MEP warns farmers to remember costs and fines in expansion plans
There is plenty of time to expand between now and the end of the milk quota in 2015, the Ireland East Fine Gael MEP said in Conahy GAA Club, Kilkenny. While welcoming the planned increase of 50% in milk production in Food Harvest 2020, she urged farmers to focus on market opportunities for dairy produce — not just on on-farm potential for expansion.
“Farmers need to focus on profitable expansion, not just expansion,” said McGuinness. “The future looks bright for food production as the global concern about food security intensifies. Agriculture is key to the economic recovery of Ireland. But farmers know that while commodity prices are rising, so too are farm input costs, which will erode the much needed income improvement on farms to sustain expansion.”
