The Department of Agriculture is preparing to roll out a national dairy farmer retirement scheme, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Options for a retirement package were discussed in detail by the Food Vision Dairy Group this week, with the talks centred around funding mechanisms.

It is understood that a retirement scheme is now more favoured than a cow or volume quota, as was suggested by the Department a number of weeks ago.

The group is due to submit a draft report on the future of the sector to the Minister for Agriculture next week.

There has been a significant shift in focus by the group given the developments around food security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.