Concern over milk quota proposals

THE livelihoods of thousands of farmers and workers countrywide will be at risk if proposals to introduce a milk quota exchange system are brought forward, Lakeland Dairies warned yesterday.

Lakeland, the State’s second largest dairy co-operative, said it has serious concerns about the “unworkable and unfair” proposals announced by Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan for the establishment of a milk quota exchange system in 2007.

Chief executive Ed Prendergast predicted that the impact of a “cheque book quota system” will be most significant in the northern and north-western regions, where farmers are significantly below the national average quota size.