IFA Urges Farmers and Co-ops to Work Together to Avoid 2010/11 Superlevy Bill

With two days to go to the end of the 2010/11 milk quota year, IFA National Dairy Committee Chairman Kevin Kiersey today (Tues) urged all over quota dairy farmers and all co-ops, to work closely together in coming days to avoid the wasteful cost of superlevy for this year.

He said he was determined to continue lobbying in Brussels with like-minded farm organisations and with the support from our new government to obtain greater concessions on quotas before 2015.

Kevin Kiersey said, “All member states, including countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and even Germany, need to be able to benefit from the lower quota costs which the so-called ‘soft landing’ was meant to bring about. This is not currently the case in any of these countries, and I am clear that additional measures are needed before 2015 to reduce the cost of quota and/or superlevy for all dairy farmers in Europe, including Irish farmers.”

“However, I expect to encounter a great deal of resistance from the EU Commission and the majority of member states where the “soft landing” is actually working, so it is likely that, even if successful, our campaign will take time,” he added.

“Meanwhile, I hope we will avoid superlevy this year, and learn from the experience by making sure that farmers reduce their exposure to fines over the coming years,” he concluded.