Minister puts quota management on agenda

THE scale of dairying enterprises and the issue of quota management rank high in the order of issues requiring attention, Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan told the annual conference dinner in Dublin of ICOS, the co-ops umbrella body.

Minister Coughlan said in the past four years the restructuring scheme has allowed the average producer quota to increase by more than 25%.

That quota has been made available at reasonable prices. This has allowed many smaller producers in particular to expand their farming enterprises. While the number of producers has fallen, the rate of exit here has been much less dramatic than in many other parts of northern Europe.