Further details have now emerged on the EU-wide €150m voluntary milk supply reduction measure, as reported on page 58 of last week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

The milk reduction measure is expected to pay around 12p/litre for every litre of reduced milk supply over a three-month period. There will be four opportunities to apply – October to December 2016; November 2016 to January 2017; December 2016 to February 2017 or January to March 2017.

The deadline for the first application window (October to December 2016) is now understood to be 21 September. Farmers will only be able to apply once, and the money will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, with the European Commission accepting all bids notified by the relevant member states until the claims exceed the volume (1.07mT) corresponding to the available budget.

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Aid will only be paid for a maximum of 50% milk reduction within the reference period. The minimum claim amount has been confirmed at 1,500kg (approximately 1,450 litres).

Following the end of the chosen three-month period, farmers will have 45 days to submit evidence (copy of milk cheques) to show the actual amount of milk produced in the period.

The first payments should come next March (for farmers applying in the first window) with all money to be paid by September 2017.

That leaves a number of issues to be decided at a local level by Agriculture Minister Michelle McIlveen. Perhaps the most contentious is what to do with the NI allocation of a €350m package for “conditional adjustment aid to support vulnerable livestock sectors”, announced at the same time as the €150m supply reduction measure.

The total UK allocation of this adjustment aid is just over €30m.

This money could go to top-up the voluntary aid package for dairy farmers. Representatives from dairy campaign group Fair Price Farming argue that the package only came forward on the back of lobbying by dairy farming representatives, so the money should only go to that sector. However, the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has insisted that this money should be made available to support all livestock farmers.

The Commission guidance is that this money should be used to support “activities of a market stabilisation and economic sustainability nature”. Minister McIlveen is yet to reveal just how this money will be allocated in NI.