The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced that based on estimated milk deliveries as submitted by milk purchasers for the period up to 31st July 2013, Ireland is 1.44 per cent under quota when account is taken of the butterfat content of milk deliveries during the same period.
.
Estimated butterfat adjusted deliveries in July were 653,221,857 litres, it said in an update published on 19 August.It said: “This compares to the published position in July 2012 where Ireland was 0.56 per cent under quota when account was taken of the butterfat content of milk deliveries. Butterfat adjusted deliveries as submitted to the Department by milk purchasers in the period July 2012 were 605,398,839 litres.
.
“Noting the latest superlevy position announced by the department, Pat McCormack, ICMSA deputy president and chairperson of the dairy committee, said that while the country is still under quota, the gap continued to close during July and farmers need to be vigilant given that a superlevy fine remains a distinct risk for the current quota year.”The statistics indicate a firm trend: at the end of May, the position was 4.64 per cent under quota, by the end of June that had fallen to 2.6 per cent and now the July figure continues that trend,” McCormack said.

“While some parts of the country were officially in a drought situation during July and some farms had silage being fed, the perfect weather conditions experienced in the first half of August are significant and the prospect of a superlevy is becoming a distinct possibility that could pose very serious difficulties for those individual farmers substantially over-quota.

“The situation will vary depending on which co-op the farmer is supplying and it’s essential that suppliers who may be exposed consult on an ongoing basis with their processor and take every opportunity to increase quota coverage – including Temporary Leasing” concluded McCormack.

Image Shutterstock