Applications close on 14 February for dairy farmers to make claims for the first period of the EU voluntary milk reduction scheme from October to December.
The scheme is being administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The MPRS2 form to claim payment is available to download on the RPA website.
Farmers have to state the amount of milk collected during the period, the volume reduction agreed with RPA and the actual reduction in milk output compared with last year.
In NI, 611 farmers applied to reduce production by an estimated 22m litres from October to December. Around 12p/l will be paid where milk output is reduced by at least 80% of agreed reduction levels. Lower rates are paid if the actual volume reduction is less than 80% of the agreed levels.
Claims have to be sent to the RPA offices in Newcastle upon Tyne. Payments should be made within 90 days of the end of the reduction period.
UK production
Meanwhile, the latest AHDB figures show that UK milk production during 2016 totalled 14.08bn litres compared with 14.7bn litres in 2015.
Production in December was ahead of expectations, indicating that producers have responded to the recent increase in milk prices by increasing output.
Some processors in NI have indicated that they have also seen a recovery in December’s supply figures. Whether this affects markets remains to be seen. Having reached highs of around 40p/l in 2016, reports suggest spot prices in Britain are back to 26p/l to 27p/l this week.
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