The confusion in dairying created by the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has been highlighted at the annual meeting of the IFA in Limerick, writes Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent, in Limerick
Ireland's decision to fully decouple direct payments from production was also on the agenda as dairy producers complained to the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, there was no indication what milk quota prices would be like next year when decoupling is introduced.
Mr Walsh told the farmers they were not alone in not knowing what was likely to happen to milk quota prices next year. He said the same was true of the special dairy committee which he had set up to advise him.
"No one is sure about what is going to happen so we are just going to have to see how it works out," he said.
Pledging his support for the dairy sector, Mr Walsh said he expected the reasonably firm market situation for dairy products to continue into 2004.
"I will continue to insist that all support mechanisms available to the dairy sector at EU levels are fully utilised where necessary. I am aware this sector will require particular attention," he said.
Mr Walsh was critical of sections of the dairy processing sector and said he was astonished that new processing units were being built at a time when it was clear the State had surplus processing facilities.
He warned dairy processors that the system of "ring-fencing" he had introduced to ensure that milk would continue to be produced in areas west of the Shannon could not remain in place indefinitely.
Dairy farmers, he said, had to be properly compensated for producing milk and they could not be limited indefinitely to whom they could supply.
Other issues dealt with by the Minister during a marathon three-hour question-and-answer session with the IFA delegates, included the vexed issue of tagging every sheep in the State.
He heard numerous complaints from sheep producers that there was too much bureaucracy involved, it was costly and time-consuming and they were not getting the returns promised from the market. But the Minister told them Irish sheep farmers had to have a credible system of identification in place for traceability for consumers and for the control of animal diseases.
The European Commission, he said, was pressing forward with a scheme that had to be in place by 2008 but the system currently in use here would remain in place. However, farmers would not lose direct payments if they breached national regulations because the tagging scheme was not cross-compliant with other EU schemes.
Mr Walsh told the delegates he was exerting enormous pressure on the Commission to sanction the Rural Environment Protection Scheme for which there was a €260-million allocation set aside, €70 million more than in the previous year.
He also said he had no responsibility for the labelling of beef imported from outside the EU. He had been attempting to impress on Dr Franz Fischler, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, that something be done to identify imported beef, especially in relation to the amounts going into the catering and additional processing sectors.
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