Notice No. 13/04
ALLOCATION OF 1% INCREASE IN NATIONAL MILK QUOTA WITH EFFECT FROM
1 APRIL 2013
1. As part of the so-called ‘Health Check’ agreement in November 2008, the Council of Agriculture Ministers agreed to increase Member States’ milk quotas annually by 1 per cent over the period 2009 to 2013. The last of these increases came into effect on 1 April 2013. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has decided to allocate three-quarters (0.75%) of this increase on a permanent basis to active milk producers.
2. This Notice sets out the eligibility criteria and general conditions determined by the Minister for the allocation of this quota from the National Reserve with effect from the 2013/2014 milk quota year.
3. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
In order to qualify for the 0.75% increase in quota, each producer must:
(a) have, on 1 April 2013, a permanent milk quota entitlement with at least one registered Milk Purchaser (Co-operative/Dairy); and
(b) be producing and delivering milk to a registered Milk Purchaser during the 2013/2014 milk quota year, or
(c) have produced and delivered milk to a registered Milk Purchaser during the 2011/2012 and/or 2012/2013 milk quota years.
4. Milk quota held by producers in the following circumstances on 1 April, 2013 will be regarded as permanent quota:
(a) quota assigned in connection with a land lease agreement(s) to that producer, or
(b) quota permanently transferred in connection with a family transfer and quota transferred by way of a land lease agreement, the lessor also being a family member.
5. GENERAL CONDITIONS
(a) The 0.75% quota increase will be made available on a permanent, saleable basis to each eligible producer from 1 April 2013.
(b) Where a producer’s permanent milk quota entitlement includes quota previously allocated from the National Reserve on the basis that it would be surrendered to the National Reserve on cessation of production, the amount of the 0.75% increase attaching to this National Reserve portion will also revert to the National Reserve in the event that the producer sells all or part of his/her quota.
2.
(c) The 0.75% quota increase will be made available to a former lessor to whom a quota has reverted following the termination of a land and quota lease on or after 31 March 2013. In the event that the former lessor fails, within two years, to avail of this quota through one of the following options:
(i) resuming production,
(ii) offering quota for sale through the Milk Quota Trading Scheme,
(iii) transferring the quota with or without land to a qualified relative, or
(iv) selling land and quota on the open market,
the entire quota, including the 0.75% increase, will revert to the National Reserve.
(d) The 0.75% quota increase will not be made available to dormant producers, i.e., those who have not produced or delivered milk to a registered Milk Purchaser in either the 2011/2012 or 2012/2013 milk quota years. In such circumstances the increase will revert to the National Reserve along with the rest of the quota, but may be restored with the rest of the quota if the producer resumes milk production within two years.
6. PRODUCERS WITH QUOTA ATTACHED TO MORE THAN ONE MILK PURCHASER
Where a producer has milk quota attached to more than one Milk Purchaser, the 0.75% increase will be calculated against the permanent milk quota entitlement attached to each
Milk Purchaser at 1 April 2013.
7. Milk Purchasers will, in due course, notify their producers of the amount of quota that is allocated to their account as a result of the increase.
8. Further information may be obtained by contacting your Milk Purchaser
(Co-operative/Dairy) or the Milk Quota Section, Department of Agriculture, Food
and the Marine, at (01) 6072857. Details are also available on the Department’s website at http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmingsectors/dairy/milkquotas/
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine,
April, 2013.