Following my decision to remove the milk quota clawback arrangements, I immediately announced details of the temporary leasing scheme which has now been put in place. I have increased the amount of quota which a producer can offer to this scheme from the 70 per cent maximum which applied in previous years to 99 per cent.
As there is no transfer of land required under this scheme, and the arrangement is a simple procedure operated by the producer's own co-operative/dairy, this increased level of quota which may be leased along with the increase in the maximum payment from 20p to 25p per gallon should be an attractive option for quota holders who for some reason are not using their entire milk quota in the current year and would otherwise have had to consider leasing their land.
I have also maintained the priority category arrangements for the allocation of the quota offered to this scheme and again, small producers with quotas of less than 30,000 gallons are the first category which is given total priority.
Because of the changes which I have effected to the temporary leasing scheme, additional quota should become available to the priority categories.