In early February, the CSO released figures to show that Irish milk production for 2014 had reached a record level of 5.6 billion litres, up 4.2% year-on-year. It was this increase that would cause so much difficulty in relation to the large superlevy bill handed down to Ireland later in the year.

With the end of dairy quotas just a matter of weeks away in February, there was plenty of activity within the sector in early spring. Lakeland Dairies announced a €36m investment in a new dryer at its Bailieborough site in Cavan, while at the same time the Government and the dairy industry announced a joint investment of €35m in dairy-processing innovation.

The investment was split, with €25m going towards a new Dairy Processing Technology Centre hosted by the University of Limerick and a further €10m invested in the expansion of Moorepark Technology Ltd’s pilot plant facility in Fermoy, Co Cork.

The Minister for Agriculture followed up the announcement in January that Irish beef had regained access to the US market with a beef trade mission to New York, Washington and Chicago. This trade mission was followed by further good news for the beef sector when it was revealed that Irish beef had now also been granted access to the Chinese market.

In mid-February, online applications for the newly revised Basic Payment Scheme were opened for the first time. The minister also officially opened the new environmental scheme for farmers in February called GLAS.

To inform farmers fully of the new changes to the CAP, the Department held a series of information meetings around the country starting at the end of February.

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2015: full year in review