Young farmers ‘will not pick up tab’ for plans to boost milk output by 50%

YOUNG farmers will not pick up the tab for Ireland’s ambitious plans to boost milk production by 50% by 2020, said Edmond Connolly, chief executive of Macra na Feirme, whose Young Farmer Annual Conference takes place in the Arklow Bay Hotel in Wicklow throughout this weekend.

Mr Connolly has told senior dairy co-op managers that the burden of delivering on the Government’s Food Harvest 2020 report could not fall on the shoulder of “new entrants”, a term which Macra members understandably believe to mean them. The co-op executives have been meeting in the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, for the past two days to discuss ways to rejuvenate Ireland’s dairy co-ops.

Mr Connolly said: “There is substantial interest in expansion among our young members. Many of them have plans to exceed the existing quota on their farms, but they are also taking stock of the situation.

“They would have serious concerns about the idea that new entrants would only be allowed into the dairy sector if they pay their way in.

“Costs can be spread out over time, and they accept that they would have to pay some of the cost, but there is no way that that cost can be put solely on the shoulders of young farmers.”

Following the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) national conference on Thursday, a smaller executive group gathered yesterday to discuss the “Milk Ireland” concept, which could see all of the dairy co-ops join forces for a consensus approach to promoting the dairy sector.

The backdrop to these discussions is the 50% milk production expansion by 2020, the cost of which some experts estimate could come to €850,000.