Euro dairy fund cash on its way soon to South West producers
The £273 million EU Dairy Fund was set up last year following mass protests by French and Belgian farmers, and is intended to help farmers who have been severely affected by changes in demand and prices over the past 12 months, while keeping administrative costs to a minimum and supporting a competitive dairy sector.
Following consultation with the industry, the Government has agreed to distribute the UK share of the fund by making a flat rate payment to farmers of roughly 0.2p per litre of the milk they produced between October 2008 and September 2009.
Farming minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "We have agreed with the industry that a flat rate payment is the fairest way to help dairy farmers most affected by the drop in global dairy prices.
"The UK has one of the most modern and efficient dairy sectors, and distributing the funding in this way will give some additional security to farmers following a particularly challenging year."
To keep administrative costs low, the qualifying threshold for payments will be 50,000 litres, which means that the minimum payment from the fund will be roughly £100. The Rural Payments Agency aims to begin making payments in mid April, with all to be made by the end of June. The overwhelming response from the consultation run earlier this year agreed that the flat rate payment model was the fairest system for distribution of the fund across the UK.
The minimum payment from the fund will be roughly £100, but larger herds will receive more
