EU threw away €197m of Irish farmers’ butter in 2002

AGRICULTURE Minister Joe Walsh had a blunt message for farmers after voting to reform the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in Luxembourg yesterday: “The game is up. It’s time for change.”

Irish agriculture is facing its biggest upheaval in decades with thousands of jobs in production and processing on the line. Figures released yesterday reveal a shocking level of waste in the EU with Irish farmers contributing hugely to waste butter and milk.

For example, last year Irish farmers produced 103 million lbs of butter for intervention to be added to the butter mountain. Based on the €1.90 Tescos charge for a pound of Kerrygold butter, Irish farmers alone produced €197m worth of wasted butter last year.