Caution over new EU dairy package

As reported this week, a further EU-wide support measure for the dairy industry will be tabled on 18 July, with European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan hinting that new aid could be linked to supply control. “We must inevitably focus on the supply side of the equation,” he said.

But Ulster Farmers’ Union deputy president Ivor Ferguson maintained that at a recent meeting of the European farm lobby umbrella organisation Copa-Cogeca, there was no support for milk supply controls.

According to Ferguson, the organisation wants to see new funding for dairy support with member states deciding how this would be best spent. He also recognised that funding would be modest due to EU budget pressures.

Scotland to apply for low BSE status

The Scottish Government is to open a public consultation in the summer to join Northern Ireland in applying to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to change its BSE status from controlled risk to negligible risk.

“Achieving BSE negligible risk status could help open up markets across the world for premium products, and potentially reduce waste and inefficiencies in the supply chain worth more than £1m,” Scottish Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said at the Royal Highland Show last week.