asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of farmers who joined the non-marketing of milk scheme in each year it was in existence; the number of farmers who joined the dairy herd conversion scheme; and the number of those farmers who are now in the process of producing milk and seeking milk quotas.
Written Answers. - Milk Production.
488.
The number of farmers who joined the EC non-marketing and dairy herd conversion schemes in each year are as follows:
|
Year |
Non-Marketing |
Dairy Herd Conversion |
|
1977 |
8 |
11 |
|
1978 |
258 |
99 |
|
1979 |
634 |
166 |
|
1980 |
1007 |
217 |
|
1981 |
145 |
259 |
|
1982 |
3 |
20 |
|
1983 |
— |
1 |
|
2055 |
773 |
To date, 1,371 of these farmers have satisfactorily completed the prescribed periods of compliance with the requirement of not selling milk (five years in the case of the non-marketing scheme and four years in the case of the dairy herd conversion scheme), while 15 farmers have been disqualified because they resumed milk production before the end of the compliance period.
My Department do not have information on how many of the 1,371 farmers have resumed the production and sale of milk as they are entitled to do or how many of the other applicants have resumed milk production since the date of their last check inspection. If any of the latter are found on inspection to have done so, they will of course, be disqualified.