Drive on for dairy exports
Plans are progressing for customer units in Moorepark Technology Ltd which will take the relationship between Teagasc and the industry to a new level.
This should result in many new market-led products which can be produced by Dairy Board members and marketed internationally by the Dairy Board.
This type of partnership is well timed for end of quotas and the achievement of the 2020 Food Harvest target of a 50% increase in milk production.
The industry is willing to co-sponsor R&D to ensure the availability of competitive, high-value products.
The minister says he will lever the maximum of EU funds and prioritise funding from his own department for this purpose.
Money spent in this area might seem a little removed from farmers, but in the medium and long-term it will result in the best milk price for farmers.
The present situation, where some sellers of Irish dairy products abroad are competing with each other, will cost Irish farmers money in the longer term and should end.
Dairy farmers will need signals from the processing and marketing sectors as soon as possible in order to be able to plan properly for the future.
