The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has received the Food Vision Dairy Group’s final report, which has not been unanimously agreed on by stakeholders in the group.
The minister will now analyse the report before deciding what the next steps will be and how any actions will be implemented.
Agriland earlier disclosed details of the report prior to its publication which included a proposed exit or reduction scheme, and that farmers participating in this could lose up to €2,910/cow.
We also reported details of how such a scheme could be structured.
The final report, which contains 19 recommended actions for mitigating the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the dairy sector, was submitted to the minister today (Tuesday, October 25), by the chair of the group Prof. Gerry Boyle.
However, Boyle added:
“Despite the best efforts of all concerned, it has not been possible to secure unanimous agreement, and where stakeholders have reservations these are clearly noted in the report.
“I’m confident that in the deliberations that will follow, these concerns can be satisfactorily addressed.”
Minister McConalogue thanked all stakeholders who took part in the meetings since the group was established in January of this year for their time and effort.
“I thank the members of the Food Vision Dairy Group for the time and effort they have invested in this process,” he said.
“My ultimate aim is to future-proof our world-class dairy industry for the benefit or our industry, the environment and our farm families who are the bedrock of the entire sector.”
President of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Tim Cullinan previously told Agriland that he believed the dairy vision group should hold off on submitting its report to the minister until the Food Vision Beef and Sheep Group had completed its.
“We need to get a conclusion to the two groups together, if there is to be any reduction scheme, it has to be across all sectors,” he said.
“I am not going to individualise one sector against the other.”