Dairy farmers who relied on flexi milk must think again
Announcing details of the Milk Quota Temporary Leasing Scheme and the Flexi-Milk Scheme, Minister Mary Coughlan said she was anxious to give further recognition to active and committed dairy farmers who manage their production efficiently having regard to their available quota.
The closing date for the first stage of the Temporary Leasing Scheme is September 15, 2005, followed by a top-up stage at the end of January, for which only producers who applied to lease from the first stage will be eligible.
The allocation formula remain unchanged at 2 to 1 in favour of quota holders of less than 350,000 litres.
Minister Coughlan also announced that milk quota holders of less than 350,000 litres, who exceed their quotas, will get 90% of available unused quota (flexi-milk) in the 2005 milk marketing year.
The remaining 10% will be available to over-quota producers in the over 350,000 litres.
“Those producers who having continuously relied upon an annual flexi milk allocation to offset regular patterns of over-production will now have to consider how best to deal with that situation on their farm enterprise and there are a number of options open to them”, she said.
She said the new June 17 deadline for Restructuring Scheme applications will help farmers avail of additional Restructuring Scheme quota.
She urged farmers to avoid the over-production that led to a superlevy for the 2004/2005 year, which she described as “a serious self-inflicted loss to dairy producers.”
Minister Coughlan confirmed that, following discussions with the Milk Quota Review Group, she has decided not to proceed with the pilot Farm Manager scheme along the lines envisaged in 2001.
Apart from the large level of demand from existing producers for allocations from the National Reserve, and the fact that no specific allocation has been identified for this purpose, there was also a general view that such a scheme would be legally complex and difficult to establish on an equitable basis.
