Dairy farmers need CAP support
That’s what IFA dairy committee chairman Michael Murphy told EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel when she visited Ireland last week.
He urged her to review urgently how she sets export refunds, aid levels and other supports and questioned what he described as her administration’s inflexible handling of dairy market supports.
Mr Murphy said new methods based on mathematical formulae and tender procedures have been used to slash export refunds by 70% for skim milk powder (SMP), 47% for butter and to cut the casein aid by 92% in the last 18 months.
“Every price increase or exchange rate improvement has triggered cuts in aids and refunds, and farmers have thereby been denied the benefits of strong markets. Irish dairy farmers’ margins have been cut by 30% in the three years before CAP reform implementation.
Mr Murphy said farmers cannot understand why the Commission wants their milk price to be tied to intervention returns, when strong markets could return more.
Mr Murphy urged the Commissioner to allow farmers benefit from current good conditions by allowing greater latitude for fluctuation of exchange rates and market prices before support adjustments are made.
He said this can be done within the new CAP budget and WTO limits, and would help farmers make a smoother transition to lower supports in coming years.
