He said new research from AHDB, the UK equivalent to Teagasc, has shown the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany, between them, only have 16% of their extra ‘new milk’ sitting in intervention or aids to private storage (APS) schemes.
This compares to Belgium with 86%, and France with 68% of their milk reliant on those market support measures.
“I believe this fact should weigh more heavily in the ongoing simplistic discussions about the wisdom of production management as an obvious solution to the dairy crisis,” he said.
“It is a fact that expanding production just because one can and without a marketing plan is not wise, but doing so because there is a sustainable long-term market for it and a plan to develop it, such as Ireland has, is a different proposition.”
Recent CSO figures have shown that Ireland’s milk output has risen 18.5% in the 12 months since the EU abolished quotas restricting milk output.
The accompanying graphic (below) shows that the states who produced the most extra post-quota milk are the ones with the least in storage, as indicated in yellow.
This compares to Belgium with 86%, and France with 68% of their milk reliant on those market support measures.
“I believe this fact should weigh more heavily in the ongoing simplistic discussions about the wisdom of production management as an obvious solution to the dairy crisis,” he said.
“It is a fact that expanding production just because one can and without a marketing plan is not wise, but doing so because there is a sustainable long-term market for it and a plan to develop it, such as Ireland has, is a different proposition.”
Recent CSO figures have shown that Ireland’s milk output has risen 18.5% in the 12 months since the EU abolished quotas restricting milk output.
The accompanying graphic (below) shows that the states who produced the most extra post-quota milk are the ones with the least in storage, as indicated in yellow.