Following the announcement of an aid package for European agriculture in the wake of the impact of Covid-19, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed has cautiously welcomed the aid.
However, the minister said that the package – which provides Aids to Private Storage (APS) for various products to the value of approximately €80 million – will not be enough on its own to deal with the Covid-19 fallout.
In a brief statement, a spokesperson for the minister said: “While today’s announcement by the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development is useful, a more comprehensive range of measures is still required.
Minister Creed will proceed with efforts to secure further supports at the next video conference meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries ministers.
The aid package was officially announced yesterday, Wednesday, April 22 – and has received a decidedly mixed reaction.
The package consists of a €45 million APS scheme for beef and lamb produce, and a further €30 million scheme for dairy produce.
Some €25 million will be allocated for private storage aid for beef and veal – with 25,000t of beef set to be facilitated with storage for a period of between three and five months, it is believed.
In addition, €20 million will be set aside for a similar APS scheme for lamb – which will account for about 36,000t of produce.
Dairy
The dairy APS scheme will be divided into storage for skim milk powder (SMP), butter and cheese. The dairy package would allow storage for a total of 330,000t of dairy produce, according to market sources.
This storage would range in length from two months up to six or seven months, it is believed, for dairy produce across the union.
It is understood that, for SMP and butter, the APS tool will be operated on a “first come, first serve” basis.
Cheese will be facilitated in a slightly different manner. It is believed that cheddar will be accepted under the scheme alongside other European cheeses, with Ireland looking to be in line for a 5% allocation of the APS scheme on the grounds of producing approximately 5% of the EU’s cheese.
It is expected that this will translate into storage for about 5,000t of cheddar.