Changes to market interventions proposed

Changes to market intervention measures for agricultural products have been proposed by DAERA.

The measures were originally part of EU legislation which was retained in domestic law after Brexit.

“These frameworks may no longer suit domestic circumstances and, due to their nature, could be deemed ineffective in seeking to assist with their policy intent,” DAERA said.

It is proposed that mandatory public intervention, where DAERA is required to buy specified products when prices fall below certain levels, should be scrapped. The Department points out that current intervention prices have been frozen for years and are “far removed from market reality”.

For example, the threshold price for butter and skimmed milk powder equates to milk prices below 20p/litre.

DAERA argues that the use of public intervention in NI alone “would not be of sufficient scale” to have “a material impact” on farmgate prices.

That said, the option of using public intervention would stay under the new proposal from the Department.

It is just the mandatory requirement to roll the measure out when prices fall below certain thresholds that would be removed. Changes are also proposed for private storage aid, where government subsidises the cost of storing certain products at times of depressed prices.

The proposed changes for storage aid relates to upfront payments by private firms to join the scheme and how the products in storage are inspected by DAERA. A final decision on both proposals requires a minister to be in place at DAERA. A public consultation on the matter is open for responses until 24 October 2023.