60 April 2015
worked together for decades, generating
the benefits of economies of scale while
retaining ownership or strong interest
in the upstream sellers. Land prices are
strong, in part because of demand from
the dairy sector.
Many in the sector look to New Zea-
land, which now produces 18 billion
litres of milk annually. When quota came
in in 1984, like Ireland, they too pro-
duced 5 billion litres.
10,000 new jobs, and 300,000 new
cows, are projected to come from this
milk bonanza in Ireland.
What’s not to love? A lot, according
to those concerned with environmen-
tal issues, from water quality to climate
change, and to those on what can be
called the rural left.
Beef production in general is very
inefficient with extremely high carbon
emissions per kilo. Dairy cattle in Ireland
produce 9% more methane emissions
per head now than in 1990, though they
are admittedly producing more per head.
Simon Coveney has said he is determined
to make sure Irish farmers do not have
to scale back on environmental grounds:
“Any old fool can reduce emissions by
simply reducing production. There’s no
challenge in that”, he told the Dáil last
month...The challenge for the globe, and
for Ireland in terms of giving leadership
in this area is finding a way to produce
more food while reducing the overall
emissions footprint of our production
systems”.
The IFA without whose say-so Coveney
never even gets up in the morning has
welcomed the absence of what it calls
“divisive and unachievable sectoral
targets” in the Climate Action and Low
Carbon Development Bill. This is code
for welcoming the absence of effective,
sustainable, time-tabled targets.
The Taoiseach and Minister Coveney
have argued that Ireland’s national
emissions reduction target which is to be
agreed at EU level “must take account of
Ireland’s specific circumstances includ-
ing the size and importance of our
agri-food sector”. Try selling this mes-
sage to other unsustainable sectors like
Polish coal-miners. Ireland’s binding
T
HE ending of milk quota has
been greeted with almost
unbridled hoopla in Ireland.
From the countdown clock in
Ag House, where the Depart-
ment of Agriculture has its HQ to
features on foreign media about Ireland
and milk, the coverage has been, mostly,
glowing.
So what was this quota thing the agri-
food sector is so happy to be rid of?
Quota was a limit, an imposed ceiling,
placed on milk production 31 years ago.
This was an era of milk lakes and butter
mountains, when Europe could produce
far more than it or anyone else could
consume. Levies were imposed when
production went over the pre-set level.
Now, with strong export potential in
emerging economies, especially China,
quota has been lifted and production
can rise again. World trade in dairy has
grown from 53 to 65 billion litres in
just four years, while demand in China
is expected to grow by 43% by 2019.
By European standards, Ireland is a
big shot in dairy in many respects. While
quota has limited production to about 5
billion litres, Ireland has compensated
by placing more emphasis on processing
and value-adding than other big produc-
ers such as Germany. Companies based
in Ireland trade over 15% of the world’s
infant formula, while new processing
plants, such as Glanbia’s €235m unit in
Kilkenny, have opened to much fanfare.
Ireland has also already begun investing
far more in dairy-processing research
and development than its EU competi-
tors do.
Food Harvest 2020 has been the blue-
print document for much of this growth.
Ostensibly not a Department of Agricul-
ture plan (despite the Department logo
being the only one on the front cover
page) this industry growth plan predicts
a 50% increase in milk production in
Ireland by 2020. And Ireland is on target
to deliver this.
Dairy is already the wealthiest of all
the sectors in Irish agri-food. Dairy
farmers are price-makers and not
price-takers, in part because they have
Ending quotas will make big articulate dairy farmers rich but damage rural life and
the environment. By Oliver O’Connor
Milk battle
ENVIRONMENT Milk Quotas
10,000 new
jobs, and
300,000 new
cows, are
projected to
come from this
milk bonanza
in Ireland
“
so that’s OK then