Progress made in milk quota talks

SUBSTANTIAL progress has been made in consultations with stakeholders on the future of milk quota policy, Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan announced yesterday.

She said the necessity to take a new approach to how milk quota is recycled from those who wish to exit milk production to those who see their future as progressive dairy farmers had been clear to her for some time.

Recalling that she announced last March her intention to progress to a more open market system of trading milk quotas, she said she was satisfied with the response she received and the quality of the debate that had ensued.