Vol. 548 No. 4
69 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will formulate comprehensive proposals for partnerships across all the sectors of farming; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4943/02]
A working group in my Department has considered various aspects of farming in partnership and identified many of the issues involved in setting up and operating partnerships. These issues include legal status, entitlement to various aids, rights and benefits and what happens on the dissolution of partnerships. There are many complex and difficult questions to be resolved.
Provision is made for farming partnerships in many of the schemes operated by my Department. The working group recommended that introduction of new provisions for farming partnerships in the context of the milk quota regime should be a pilot for testing the way partnerships might be progressed in the future.
Within the next few days I will sign a statutory instrument laying down the detailed rules for the registration of milk production partnerships with effect from 1 April. This development will further enhance the milk quota regime which I significantly improved through the European Communities (Milk Quota) Regulations, 2000. My objective continues to be to assist active milk producers to achieve greater efficiency in their operations while safeguarding a wide spectrum of producers.
In essence the regulations will provide for the pooling of two quotas, two holdings and the producers' agricultural assets. Each producer will continue to hold their quota and eligibility for additional quota while jointly operating the partnership's herd and facilities. This is a significant departure from standard practice to date. Therefore, the situation will be closely monitored and reviewed in a year or so with a view to drawing lessons for the future application of this model to milk production and possibly other sectors.
