Dairy
The final cost of the Superlevy Instalment Scheme to the Government was €35.6m in 2015.
Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 352.1m litres for November 2015, according to the CSO.
The total amount by which 12 Member States exceeded their national milk quotas for deliveries in the 2014/2015 quota year has been revealed.
The slight increase in EU milk deliveries in 2015 hides differences in the development of milk production in the EU Member States post quota
Supply management or quotas has long proven to be a completely redundant policy measure, according to Conor Mulvihill, ICOS European Affairs Executive.
Despite lower milk prices, EU milk deliveries in 2015 are expected above 2014, according to the European Commission's latest outlook for the dairy sector.
The new Superlevy Instalment Scheme is 'unlikely' to be in place to impact on farmer's milk cheques this month, according to a latest update by ICOS.
'Doing the simple things right' was the key take away message from today's walk of the country's top dairy farm
Dairy farmers thinking of expanding need to be efficient first, the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney told a Teagasc/ICOS dairy conference
Opinion
Today is possibly one of the most historically important days in Irish agriculture as we, finally, see the end of milk quotas in Europe.
Today is the last day of the milk quota regime.
Milk quotas in Europe will be abolished this week. We take a look at the Twitter reaction to the end of milk quotas.
As EU milk quotas come to an end this week, all countries have been urged to act responsibly and collectively in order to manage future volatility by UK farmers unions NFU dairy board chairman Rob Harrison.
The European Commission has complied a list of frequently asked questions on the abolition of milk quotas.
The European Union will not be flooded with milk post quota despite the intentions of some Member States to increase dairy production, according to European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan.
With the end of the EU milk quota system less than seven days away its interesting to look back and see why they were introduced in the first place.
EU
European Agriculture Ministers are to meet next week in the last European Agricultural Council meeting before the abolition of milk quotas.
There is set to be no surge in European milk production in 2015 despite the expiry of milk quota according to the European Commission's latest outlook for the sector.
Latest figures form the ICBF database shows that dairy calf births are up over 19% on the same time last year.
With the country is well over quota at present (+6%) many dairy farmers are considering once daily milking (OAD) as an options to reduce their exposure to a superlevy bill.
Mairead McGuiness MEP has told farmers she is working hard to address the impending superlevy bill which is set to hit farmer’s milk cheques this spring.
The European Milk Board and the German Dairy Farmers Association (BDM) are to press in Europe for the introduction of their newly developed Market Responsibility Programme (MRP) which includes supply restriction measures.
Today marks 100 days until the abolition of milk quotas in Europe.
