Ireland gets ready for deregulation

Billions of euro and thousands of jobs will flow from the historic deregulation of Europe’s dairy sector, a string of Irish ministers promised at the opening this week of a vast new plant to make dried milk for developing markets.

However, elsewhere in the EU, many farmers are less sanguine, fearing their liberation from 30 years of milk production quotas will only expose them to a new world of competition and an increase in already sharp price volatility.

On April 1, farmers will, for the first time since 1984, have no legal restrictions on the amount of milk they can produce.