Dairy farmers preparing for quota abolition – Deering

Fine Gael Carlow/ Kilkenny TD, Pat Deering, has said today (Wednesday) that dairy farmers in Ireland are going to be well prepared for the abolition of milk quotas next year. Deputy Deering was speaking after attending a major dairy conference organised by Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, to assess the dairy sector’s preparedness in advance of milk quota abolition in April 2015.

“Today’s successful dairy conference entitled ‘Countdown to Quota Abolition – Managing Price Volatility and Expansion in a Post-Quota Era’, showed that Irish dairy farmers are keen to prepare for the abolition of milk quotas in April 2015. After attending the conference myself, I know that dairy farmers will indeed be ready for the abolition of quotas and will be well placed to take advantage of the monumental opportunity it presents.

“Of course, even with the optimism surrounding the abolition of quotas, we must also be realistic. Prices will be dependent on world markets, which may be volatile. 

“Either way farmers are preparing themselves to take advantage of this new era for the Irish dairy sector as best they can. The Government’s food strategy, Harvest 2020, has an ambitious target to grow dairy output by 50% in the five years in the wake of the abolition of dairy quotas next April. 

“Emerging markets will be key to this and the recent Government trade mission to China was intended to significantly grow our potential market for dairy products in that country. There is  a rapidly expanding market of over 1.3 billion people in China who are increasingly looking for high quality food and drink imports. Irish farmers can capitalise on this and dairy farmers are currently readying themselves for the abolition of milk quotas in order to ensure that they do so successfully. ”