The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has said there are “no circumstances” in which it would agree to a cap on milk volume production.
During the latest meeting of the Food Vision Dairy Group held yesterday (Monday, March 7), the issue of possible quotas for dairy output was raised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
The group, chaired by former director of Teagasc Prof. Gerry Boyle, is tasked with examining ways for the dairy sector to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Its first task will be to “produce a detailed plan by Q2 2022 to manage the sustainable environmental footprint of the dairy sector”.
President of the ICMSA, Pat McCormack said that the entire multi-billion euro dairy industry was relying on recent comments made by Prof. Boyle and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar that no such restrictions on production were being considered.
He outlined that those comments were contradicted by the proposals from the department at yesterday’s meeting of the Food Vision Dairy Group.
McCormack explained that farmers were entitled to take the government at their word when they stated that the emissions targets could be achieved without such restrictions.
The ICMSA president said that it would not be possible to continue trying to coordinate Ireland’s most valuable food exporting sector if it could not rely on statements made by senior politicians mere days ago.
Given the ongoing war in Ukraine, McCormack said that food security has to come to the top of the global agenda, which would require the secure and sustainable production of food.
The ICMSA president outlined that “the emphasis had to be on utilising the most sustainable dairy sector in the world to expand production for ourselves and others”.