Thirty years milk quota, 30 years the milk production was capped on the European market, which expires on April 1, 2015, and what will happen then?
milk applied to the field
Review:
In the “fat” eighties there were lots of milk powder and butter produced so that there was talk of butter mountain. The guaranteed price for farmers had led to an EU-wide delivery quantity to dairies in the amount of 104 million tonnes of milk. This compares with a consumption of only 92 million tonnes. The high surpluses were stored into intervention to prevent a fall in prices. This caused unexpected costs. The EC-Ministers of Agriculture negotiated a volume control. On April 2nd 1984, the EC Council of Ministers agreed to the introduction of milk quotas.
The milk quota was determined based on the amount of milk in 1981 plus one percent and allocated to each Member country under a European regulation. Since then every milk producer in the EU has been allocated to a reference quantity (milk quota) for the duty-free supply of milk quota per year ( 1 April to 31 March ) which is available. Who has exceeded that reference quantity had to reckon with penalties.
The start of the new system was accompanied by great difficulties, hardship cases had to be considered, the cuts were not as effective as expected. In addition, losses were in the export business inventories grow again. To avoid the costly penalties for overproduction led, many farmers prefer to spend the milk to the fields.
With the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (Agenda 2000) – revised in 2003 – the milk quota system was initially extended until 2014/15. In 2008, the Health Check end of the milk quota is then reaffirmed in 2015.
Sources: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Tags: milk quota
