A SPECIAL group has been set up to increase the milk output from Ireland when the EU quota system ends.
The Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, announced that the new Dairy Expansion Activation Group will be chaired by Dr Seán Brady who headed Greencore and the Irish Dairy Board.
The Minister said the group would comprise farmers, processors and Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority.
It would, he said, address specific actions to be taken to realise the targets for dairy expansion that were laid down in the Food Harvest 2020 report.
That report concluded that the ending of milk quotas in 2015 represented an exceptional opportunity to increase Irish milk output by an estimated 50 per cent.
“The constraints on the development of the sector are being phased out with the abolition of quotas, and all of the stakeholders need to drive on and take the strategic decisions necessary to exploit the comparative advantage that we in Ireland have in milk production,” Mr Smith said.
“Food business operators, from farm level to processors, need to critically examine their business models and take rational commercial decisions based on the realities of the market place.
“Dr Brady has the confidence of the sector and did a tremendous job in chairing the food harvest group. I am confident that he can be equally successful in this implementation phase and that his group will address the critical issues on the road to the expanded output target,” he said.
The Minister also referred to the critical importance of technology transfer and best practice at farm level, if the production increases targeted in Food Harvest 2020 were to be attained in a sustainable way. He said he had asked Teagasc to consider how the demonstration farm model might be extended to address specific operational challenges in traditional dairy farming areas in the north and west of the country.