Milk quota plan needed, group hears

IT IS critical to provide farmers with an indication of how long milk quotas will remain, given that they are now in a position where they must decide for themselves the value of milk quota under the new quota exchange.

That was the clear message from Dr Pat Dillon, head of dairy research at Teagasc Moorepark, when he opened a consultation meeting of dairy industry representatives in Moorepark, Co Cork, yesterday, on the future of milk quotas.

Dr Dillon said it is time for the leaders in the dairy sector to get together to come up with a strategy that can ensure the viability of dairy farming.

He told the meeting, organised by Teagasc in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture and Food, a number of other EU member-states already have or are in the process of finalising their position with regard to the future of milk quotas.

Dr Thia Hennessy, rural economy research centre Teagasc and Dr Laurence Shalloo of Moorepark Research Centre, said the outlook for the dairy farming sector was quite uncertain at the moment given the doubt about the future of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks.

Their research shows that the abolition of export subsidies and the reduction of import tariffs, as proposed during WTO talks, would have a substantial negative effect on milk prices and a large reduction in farm numbers.

Dr Hennessy said as Europe moves towards a world milk market where export subsidies for dairy products are reduced or abolished then the usefulness of milk quotas needs to be questioned.

Dr Shalloo said in a situation where export subsidies are abolished milk quotas in Ireland would have almost no value.