A clamp in agricultural output at farm level has not been considered by the Government, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar assured farmer representatives last week.

An Tánaiste told the farm organisations that curbing the volume of farm production had not been discussed by Cabinet, both the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) maintained following the meeting.

“The Tánaiste was clear that there has been no discussion at Government level about restricting output at farm level in any sector,” an IFA spokesman told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The ICMSA said the Tánaiste’s comments were crucially important for dairy farmers in particular.

Main takeaway

“The main ‘takeaway’ for us from the meeting was the view expressed by Tánaiste Varadkar that he is against any volume control on the amount of Irish milk produced,” said ICMSA president Pat McCormack.

“We are interpreting that as an assurance that emissions-lowering measures that are already working will be given a chance and that we are not going to see any crude and unscientific measures on an ‘across-the-board’ basis aimed at lowering the production of our most valuable agri exports,” he added.

“We think that’s the most sensible and rational way of making progress and we share the Government’s confidence that it is perfectly possible to lower emissions while increasing economic and social value,” said McCormack.

Background

An Tánaiste’s comments come against the background of continuing discussions at the Food Vision dairy group, which is tasked with devising a strategy to stabilise and reduce carbon emissions from the dairy sector.

The industry group has to publish draft proposals by the end of March and a detailed plan before July, but much of the discussion to date has dealt with the climate-related challenges facing the sector.

There are mounting fears that a menu of measures to constrain milk supply and limit carbon emissions will be imposed by the Department of Agriculture if the industry group fails to agree a voluntary plan.