Vol. 559 No. 1
161 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his proposals in relation to milk quota being made available to small and medium scale farmers who are committed to milk production; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25521/02]
Following important amendments made to the EU regulations under Agenda 2000, I introduced significant changes in the management of milk quotas in Ireland with effect from April 2000. The main changes were the prohibiting of land and quota leases, except within a family, and the restriction of the temporary leasing of quota to three years. Under the new regime the main mechanism for the transferring of quota in Ireland is the milk quota restructuring scheme. During the past three years, 450 million litres – 105 million gallons – of milk quota has been restructured under restructuring schemes. This is more than the total quantity restructured during the previous decade. Almost 88% of the restructured quota has been allocated to smaller and medium scale producers.
I also decided that the additional quota granted to Ireland under Agenda 2000 would be focused on small and medium sized producers who had demonstrated their commitment to milk production. Some 68 million litres – 15 million gallons – was allocated to 21,000 committed dairy producers with a quota of less than 55,000 gallons. Almost 45 million litres – 10 million gallons – was allocated to 3,500 committed younger dairy farmers with a quota of less than 35,000 gallons. The remaining 32 million litres – 7 million gallons – was allocated this month to smaller and medium scale producers who had low initial quota due to particular circumstances.
Future restructuring schemes will continue to direct quota towards active committed producers with priority for those in the smaller and medium size categories.
