There will be no butterfat adjustment to help ease the superlevy burden on the Irish dairy sector, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has confirmed.

Speaking at the IFA AGM in Dublin on Wednesday, Minister Coveney said he has lobbied for a deal which would have reduced our superlevy exposure by 2%.

“On the butterfat correction, it’s not going to happen,” the minister said.

“I hate to say that, but I’d rather tell you up front. The [European] Commission has made this very clear. We tried to get this over the line and nobody has advocated more aggressively on this than I have. At this stage, it’s not going to happen. We need to focus on changing what we actually can change, which is the payment schedule for superlevy fines,” he added.

He went on to say that Ireland has “got some flexibility on this from the Commission that will allow farmers to enter into a payment schedule with their co-ops”.

It is understood that the minister was looking at getting agreement at European level for the staggering of a superlevy payment over a three- to five-year period, but this has been rejected as it would constitute state aid interventions. The fine will have to be paid by processors in September and by the State in November.

Elsewhere, the minister fielded a host of questions from IFA delegates on a range of issues on GLAS, commonages, the beef and sheep sectors as well as the performance of the pig and poultry sectors and the issue around “old young” farmers.

In relation to commonages, he attempted to allay fears from farmers around collective agreements.

“Let me make this clear: there is no collective agreement and there is no collective plan,” he said.

“There will be an individual GLAS plan for each commonage. Each individual farmer will then apply to that plan,” he said, before adding that if farmers on a commonage cannot agree to a planner, then the Department of Agriculture would appoint one on their behalf.

The minister also said he remains hopeful of providing funding for old young farmers, but requires agreement from Europe on increased funding through the National Reserve. The minister admitted that the issue is “not straightforward” as these farmers are a “group of people who are defined as being something else”.

Meeting

A group calling itself the Forgotten Farmer said interest in a public meeting over the issue of old young farmers has been growing daily. Some 900 people have expressed interest in attending the meeting, which will take place in the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone, on Friday 6 February at 8pm.

For further information on the meeting, Kenneth O’Brien can be contacted on 086-0740024 or through www.facebook.com/theforgotten farmer.