merrion street

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine today published Ireland’s national quota position, based on final annual returns from co-ops. With all returns received, the overall level of milk deliveries for the Milk Quota year 2011/2012 has been calculated at 1.05% above quota, having taken into account the adjustment for butterfat content and for the leap year.

The final calculation of the National position exceeds the earlier estimate by 0.36% (a little over one day’s production) due mainly to a significantly higher level of butterfat content in milk this year over previous years. The Butterfat adjustment is calculated by applying a standard formula to the variance between actual butterfat content in a given year and a representative content for each Member State provided for in the EU Quota regulations. In quota year 2011/12, this National butterfat adjustment factor was 20% higher than in the previous year. (In 2010/11, the butterfat factor was just 3.5% higher than in the previous year.)

This will not affect the position of individual farmers, whom co-ops have already notified of their provisional levy. There may be some downward adjustments of individual levy when flexi milk is distributed from the National Reserve.

Factors such as good weather and growing conditions and continuing improvements in genetics can lead to improvements in butterfat content from year to year. In quota year 2011/12, the increased use of ‘once a day milking’ to mitigate super levy bills may have been an additional factor.

Based on these calculations, the final super levy bill is expected to be in the region of €16.5m.