New quality dairy scheme will be the first of its type in the world, Bord Bia says

Bord Bia has announced the introduction of a quality assurance scheme for dairy farmers which it says will be the first national scheme of its type anywhere in the world. Farmers will have to meet an ISO standard for product certification and will be audited on issues such as carbon footprint, animal welfare, food safety and traceability.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said this was probably the most important policy initiative that had come from the dairy industry in many years. "If we make claims about being the best, we have to prove it and that is what this is all about," he said.

Bord Bia chief executive Aidan Cotter said the scheme would begin to be rolled out in January and he was aiming to have every dairy farm in the State signed up to the scheme by 2016. There are currently almost 18,000 dairy farmers in this State and they produce more than five billion litres of milk annually. Milk quotas are being abolished in 2015 and milk output is expected to incrase by 50 per cent by 2020. Mr Cotter said this scheme would ensure that the expansion happened in a sustainable manner with farmers meeting the highest quality standards.