Within the last 7 days, more details have emerged in relation to the European Commission Package of Measures (initially announced by the Agriculture Commissioners office on 7 September) and in particular how the UK allocation of the €420m (£365m) of direct aid would be drawn down.
The UK got £26.2m out of a total aid package of £365m agreed at a farm ministers’ meeting in Brussels earlier this month.
Northern Ireland received a boosted allocation of £5.1 million, in recognition that NI dairy farmers have been suffering from some of the lowest prices across Europe, which is a point that the UFU has been making repeatedly during their lobby efforts since July 2014.
The UK allocation is split as follows;
England - £15.5m
Northern Ireland - £5.1m
Wales - £3.2m
Scotland - £2.3m
Despite the allocation above, the UFU said they were increasingly frustrated at the Commissions continued refusal to look at reviewing Intervention levels. Instead the Commission have decided to look to restoring Market Balance by proposing a “new & improved private storage scheme” to ease the market surplus in dairy protein products such as Skimmed Milk Powder and cheese, granting higher aid levels (per tonne/per day) and longer storage periods to operators
Phil Hogan turned down a UFU request for a review of Intervention, he said any changes would not be implemented in time to make any difference. It is the UFU view that he is 'missing the point'; they state 'policy has always been that the Commission needs to act now to ensure that the UFU are not in this position again in 3 years time.'
The Commission are to establish a new dedicated High Level Group to focus on a number of specific issues; credit for farmers and financial & risk hedging instruments such as futures markets for agricultural products (as demanded by COPA).
Closer to home, on 17 September, it was announced that in Westminster, the EFRA Committee will look at the reasons behind the recent crash in farmgate milk prices across the UK. As well as submitting written evidence in relation to the NI dairy sector, the UFU will be meeting EFRA Minister George Eustice MP in London on 14 October to highlight the lack of support farmers have received to-date.
