Farmers warned of milk super-levy

FARMERS were warned yesterday that the country is heading towards a hefty milk super-levy.

A survey by the co-ops national umbrella body, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), has revealed that the over-quota position at the end of December was 28.6 million litres.

George Kearns, ICOS dairy committee secretary, said if supplies followed the same pattern as last year for the remaining three months, then a super-levy position was inevitable.

He urged dairy farmers to recognise their own individual position and that of their co-operative, and, if over quota, to put in place substantial cutbacks.

“The limited availability of temporary leasing, and, the revised rules for flexi-milk allocations, may mean many producers will not be able to avail of the same levels of quota from those two sources as heretofore,” he said.

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association dairy committee chairperson Dominic Cronin said there had been a huge surge in milk supplied to co-ops since last September.

Many co-ops were over quota and predicting that the situation would be unchanged at the end of the quota year.

“With a super-levy fine of 30c per /litre, no farmer can afford to be complacent and every supplier should consult with his or her own co-op to ascertain their own position and that of their co-op and take the appropriate necessary action,” he said.

Mr Cronin urged farmers to consider the temporary leasing that is still available until this Friday.