Seventh Milk Quota Trading Scheme Results Announced

Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen T.D., has said that despite the country's overall milk quota position and the difficult year experienced by dairy farmers, demand for milk quota has held up very strongly.

The Clare Fianna Fail Deputy made his comment following the confirmation of the aggregate results of the seventh Milk Quota Trading Scheme, which is the first of two that will allocate quota in respect of the 2010/2011 quota year.

Minister of State Killeen said that demand has risen significantly compared to the most recent exchange last March. He continued: “In spite of this rise in demand, there has been a further fall in the volume of quota traded which probably again reflects a degree of mismatch between the expectations of buyers and sellers. The continuing price reductions, however, are very welcome."

A total of just over 38 million litres of milk quota was offered for sale, with 18 million litres successfully traded. Of this total, 12 million litres was sold on the exchange at prices ranging from 5 to 17 cent per litre, with more than ninety per cent of this amount traded at or below 12 cent per litre. The remaining 6 million litres was sold through the priority pool at the maximum price of 6 cent per litre, with the exception of Kerry, Lakelands and Connacht Gold, where the priority pool price followed the market clearing price to 5 cent per litre.

Clare Farmers Receive REPS 4 Payments

Tony Killeen T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has confirmed that payments under REPS 4 have commenced and that over EUR33 million has issued to farmers in the last week or so.

The payments represent the first of the two phasing arrangements under which REPS 4 payments are made under EU regulations. The Regulations allow 75 per cent of payments to be released once all detailed administrative checks on all applications, including plan checks, are completed.

Minister of State Killeen described the processing of REPS 4 claims as an enormous and complex task. He continued: “In order to meet the requirements of the EU regulations, all applications received this year, as well as those received in 2007 and 2008, have to be subjected to detailed administrative checks before any payments could issue at all. This involved checks on some 28,800 files and I am glad that we have managed to reach the stage where payments are now being made in such large numbers. Payments will continue so that as many farmers as possible will receive their entitlements before year-end or early in the New Year."

Meanwhile, the second phase of the REPS 4 payments for 2009, the 25%, has also commenced. This phase was triggered by the completion of the programme of on-farm inspections for the year.

Minister of State Killeen noted that there were also approximately 34,000 farmers still in REPS 3 who had been paid or would receive payments this year. The Clare Fianna Fail T.D. continued: "These payments have been going out continuously since January and as of today the Department has already paid out EUR220 million this year. These payments, too, will continue to issue right up to the last day of the year".

Minister of State Killeen said that REPS payments due to farmers in 2009 would reach the highest levels ever and this trend would continue next year. In the case of the Farm Waste Management Scheme, expenditure by the Department this year will reach EUR293 million which will bring total expenditure under the Scheme since its introduction in 2001 to over EUR900 million.

Killeen Seeks Simplified CAP Rules And Procedures

Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen has backed calls for a simplification of the rules and procedures involved in operating the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Clare Fianna Fail T.D. was speaking following a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Brussels. He stated: “Proposals for simplification measures were made last May by a group consisting of Ireland and 12 other countries. In reviewing progress on these proposals, the Council agreed that while there had been useful work done, further efforts were needed. The Irish Government is now insisting that efforts to simply the rules and procedures are intensified, and I am delighted to see that there is strong agreement for this from other counties.”

Minister of State Killeen continued: “Officials will now continue the very detailed work involved in this and report to Ministers on a regular basis. In addition to this immediate work, I was also particularly pleased that a suggestion by my colleague Minister Brendan Smith that policy simplification should form a fundamental plank of our consideration of the shape of the CAP after 2013 was reflected by the Swedish chairman in concluding the debate. We need a simple EU agricultural policy - simple to justify to EU taxpayers, simple for farmers to understand and operate and simple for Member States to implement and enforce".

Among the other issues considered at the meeting of Agriculture Ministers was the CAP after 2013, and in particular the Rural Development or "Pillar 2" aspects of the common policy. Pillar 1 of the CAP consists of the Single Farm Payment and market support measures.

Commenting on the agriculture elements of Rural Development, Minister Killeen said that the Irish Government supported a move towards supporting competitiveness and sustainability in our farming systems. “Measures which promote competitiveness will perform a pivotal role in encouraging efficiency and innovation in farming for the future. These measures are critical to the future of Irish and European farming and should be maintained and enhanced”, he concluded.