Dairy boss urges action to avoid ‘wasteful’ cost of superlevy

WITH two days to go to the end of the 2010/11 milk quota year, IFA National Dairy Committee chairman Kevin Kiersey urged all over quota dairy farmers and all co-ops to work closely together in coming days to avoid the “wasteful cost of superlevy for this year”.

He said he was determined to continue lobbying in Brussels with like-minded farm organisations and with the support from the Government to obtain greater concessions on quotas before 2015.

“All member states, including countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and even Germany, need to be able to benefit from the lower quota costs which the so-called ‘soft landing’ was meant to bring about.

“This is not currently the case in any of these countries, and I am clear that additional measures are needed before 2015 to reduce the cost of quota and/or superlevy for all dairy farmers in Europe, including Irish farmers,” said Mr Kiersey.

He said he expects to encounter a great deal of resistance from the EU Commission and the majority of member states where the “soft landing” is actually working, so it is likely that, even if successful, he said the campaign will take time.

“Meanwhile, I hope we will avoid superlevy this year, and learn from the experience by making sure that farmers reduce their exposure to fines over the coming years,” he added.