New entrants will share 200,000 litres of milk quota under scheme

A TOTAL of 200,000 litres of milk quota will be allocated to new entrants to dairying under a new scheme announced yesterday by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith.

It followed his earlier decision to set aside one quarter of the first 1% milk quota increase under the Common Agricultural Policy Health Check for new entrants.

Mr Smith said at a time when the dairy sector is facing many serious challenges it is perhaps more important than ever to make every effort to encourage new thinking and new methods.

“Who better to bring that freshness than new entrants? All in the industry agree on the importance of attracting new blood and now is the time to press ahead with new initiatives,” he said.

A comprehensive business plan will have to be submitted, and all applications will be subjected to a rigorous assessment by an independent assessment group.

This will be chaired by John Tyrrell, ICOS, Pat Dillon, Teagasc with Marian Potter and Paul Savage, both from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, as the other members

Successful applicants will be required to attend training courses facilitated by Teagasc and to provide financial statements on an annual basis to the department.

Mr Smith urged all potential applicants to ensure that they submit their applications by the July 31 deadline. It is expected that successful applicants will be notified in September.

Michael Gowing, president of Macra na Feirme, which had lobbied strongly to facilitate new entrants to the dairy industry, said the scheme was a welcome first step.

However, he said he was disappointed a relatively small number of farmers who acquired milk quota for production after April 1, 2009, have been excluded from consideration under the scheme.

Mr Gowing said as the minister has excluded farmers most ready to commence milk production in the short term, the uptake and success of the scheme is likely, therefore, to be lessened.

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association deputy president John O’Leary said the minister might be better advised trying to save Ireland’s fast disappearing dairy farmers instead of pie-in-the-sky schemes that could divert scarce attention and resources from those already in the sector and losing money on a daily basis.