FARM groups have welcomed the release of two new farm support schemes — the €53m Dairy Equipment and the Rainwater Harvesting Scheme and the support for Private Storage for the Pigmeat Sector.

SOARING levels of milk production seem to be pushing Ireland almost inevitably towards being hit with EU super levy fines, according to most dairy industry experts.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen was urged to keep retiring ministers in their jobs until the election, it was revealed today.

THE Turkish market has been opened up for Irish beef exports and should help to drive on cattle prices paid to farmers.

EUROPEAN Union farm policy is “morally wrong” because it undercuts agriculture in developing countries with import tariffs and export subsidies, said Caroline Spelman, the British environment secretary.

Dublin: Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, yesterday confirmed payment of a further €100m to farmers by way of early payment of the final instalment of 20% of the grant aid due to farmers under the Farm Waste Management Scheme.

FARMERS have begun to receive €7.5m in payments for eligible 2010-born calves, under the suckler welfare scheme.

DAIRY farmers stand to gain 1c to 2c per litre by attending discussion groups, according to Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith.

SOME 95% of all quota offered for sale in the first Milk Quota Trading Scheme for the 2011/2012 quota year has been successfully traded, and volumes have significantly increased on 2009 levels.

FARMERS are to receive a timely €45m REPS 4 payment, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith announced yesterday.

FRANCE is still the principal eurozone market for Ireland’s food and drink industry, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith has told a business grouping in Paris.

FARMER confidence in the mechanical classification systems for grading Irish beef is being gradually restored by regular monitoring of the system in operation, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith.

FARM groups have reacted favourably to many aspects of the budget, notably the decision to maintain funding for core farming supports such as the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, REPS, suckler cow welfare and forestry schemes.

UP to 40 jobs are to be created by Danone Baby Nutrition’s global network following a €50m add-on investment at one of its Irish businesses.

THE newly formed Horticulture Action Group is to meet for the first time tomorrow to discuss its implementation of the Food Harvest 2020 Report.

FARMERS are being urged to submit their REPS 3 application claim forms as soon as possible, as the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food hopes to issue payments before the end of this year.

IRISH reaction to the EU Commission’s new CAP document has been widely divergent – broadly welcomed by the Government, but slammed by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

DAIRY and beef farmers will save €2.5 million annually thanks to the relaxation of brucellosis blood testing for suckler and dry stock herds, according to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).

FARM groups welcomed the progress unveiled yesterday by the Government in its nitrates negotiations with the EU Commission.

DAIRY farmer Pat Enright hasn’t slept well in over a week.

ADULTS are as keen as teenagers to learn about computers, according to a new department-funded report on ICT uptake in Irish farms.

AGRI-FOOD scientists are to benefit from €10 million departmental research funding that will help deliver the milk production goals outlined in Food Harvest 2020.

LAKELAND Dairies yesterday unveiled a €20m milk powder plant that can customise products for clients, facilitate research and feed excess energy back into the national electricity grid.

THE current mechanism for Common Agricultural Policy payments to farmers is to be replaced with a more market-aware model, but Irish farmers should have no major concerns about cuts, European Commissioner Dacian Ciolos revealed during his visit to Dáil Éireann yesterday.

FARM scheme payments which began on September 22 will continue to be made to farmers whose applications have been processed and where all errors were cleared.

CAREFUL European Commission management of intervention stocks has helped sustain steady growth in the dairy sector over the past 12 months, according to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith.

TRIBUTES flowed from all quarters at the ploughing championships for the Irish Examiner’s Agribusiness Correspondent Ray Ryan whose colourful 48-year career in journalism is drawing to a close.

NOT every organisation can boast two garden parties in the one week.

IN his column (July 8), Ivan Yates wrote about the future of farming.

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has made peace with Fianna Fáil backbenchers through a complicated legislative juggling act with his new law to ban puppy farms.

MINISTERS of State Sean Connick and Ciarán Cuffe have assumed a suite of new statutory powers and duties within the Department of Agriculture.

FOOD producers are at severe risk of going out of business due to a minimum wage that is 34% higher here than in Britain, the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) argues.

SEVENTY new entrants to dairying have each been allocated a milk quota of 200,000 litres under the new entrants scheme. Applications were considered through a selection process conducted by an independent assessment group chaired by John Tyrrell, director general of ICOS.

THE European Commission is taking note of Ireland’s concerns on proposed moves to introduce a system of electronic identification in sheep.

A NEW cross-border course attempting to ensure the public health veterinarians working in the Irish food industry continue to meet EU regulatory standards has been launched by ministers on both sides of the border.

THE critical importance of investment in research and development (R&D) is key to the development of the Irish food industry Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith has said.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is leading the biggest Irish trade mission to Japan this week.

BORD Bia has opened new offices in New York beefing up Ireland’s presence in the US.

MACRA NA FEIRME has welcomed the changes to dairy partnerships which were announced yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith.

NORMALLY it is the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who presents certificates at functions country wide.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan has welcomed today's announcement by Diageo.

THE new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, will hit the ground running as his French counterpart Michel Barnier flies into Dublin today for key strategy talks on the world trade deal now being negotiated in Geneva.

IRISH farmers are believed to have missed out on about €5 million per year of single farm payments.