THE FULL extent of fines to be faced by dairy farmers for over-producing milk this year will not be known until late next week, the Department of Agriculture has said.
Ireland is allowed to produce 5.3 billion litres of milk annually under the EU milk quota scheme, under which every farmer is allowed to produce a specific amount of milk between April 1st and March 31st annually.
Production over the agreed level brings a superlevy fine of 28.6 cents a litre. For the past month farmers have been trying to reduce output to prevent this from happening.
However, most of the big dairy processors have reported that deliveries at their factories up to a month ago are up to 5 per cent ahead of what is allowed, and fines look inevitable.
Glanbia, the largest milk processor, was reported to be running 5 per cent ahead of quota on a week- to-week basis, while Dairygold was reported to be 4.5 per cent ahead of quota at the beginning of this month.
The bigger co-operatives have been advising farmers to withhold milk supplies to them until after today, but have warned that the quality of the milk must not be compromised.
Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, has for the last two months been advising farmers how to handle surplus milk by feeding it to young animals. At greatest risk from the superlevy are the most progressive of the 19,000 dairy producers operating in the State.
Many of these are planning ahead for the ending of the EU milk quota system in 2015 by holding on to breeding stock that in other years they would have sold on. This, combined with improved weather conditions which has spurred grass growth, has left many of these farmers in jeopardy.