Call for milk quota region with Britain

A CALL to have Ireland and Britain treated as one region for milk quota trading was made by Macra na Feirme president Colm Markey in Sligo last night.

He told the opening session of Macra’s three-day annual conference that there has been a lot of talk in recent times about allowing the cross-border trading of milk quotas within the EU.

But this could be dangerous for Ireland as quota could be sucked towards the centre of Europe.

However, allowing Ireland and Britain to be treated as one region would be a positive step, he said.

Mr Markey pointed out that the British did not fill their quota last year and that the price of quota there was significantly lower than in Ireland.

“I am proposing that processors in Ireland would be allowed to purchase milk quota from their counterparts in Britain and distribute it to their farmer suppliers in Ireland,” he said.

Mr Markey said a radical step such as this was required to allow dairy farmers to expand their businesses in the years ahead and to prepare for an environment where people will no longer have milk quotas.

He said the minister has managed the trading of our milk quota very well in Ireland, which has allowed young farmers to build their businesses incrementally without spending huge amounts.

“But regardless of how we manage our national quota the reality is that we simply do not have enough quota to satisfy demand,” he said.

Mr Markey said radical changes are needed if young people are to be attracted into the industry.

“We saw only a few days ago how our beet industry could be wiped out at the stroke of a pen.

“It is time that we started to demand changes at EU level that suited Irish farmers rather than being marginalised,” Mr Markey added.