Published on Wednesday19thNovember2014

Coveney hosts major dairy conference

DairyConferencethumbTom Moran, Secretary General at the Department of Agriculture with Minister Simon Coveney and Gerry Boyle, Director Teagasc, at the National Dairy Conference 2014

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney will today host a Major Dairy Conference organised to assess the sector’s preparedness in advance of milk quota abolition in April 2015. The Conference, hosted in conjunction with Teagasc and entitled ‘Countdown to Quota Abolition - Managing Price Volatility and Expansion in a Post-Quota Era’ will draw on international and national experience from across the dairy sector to examine issues such as market opportunities, volatility and on farm efficiencies that can drive profitability in the sector. Participants range from across the sector and include CEOs from some of Ireland’s biggest dairy companies and cooperatives as well as farmers and farm groups, banks and other sector stakeholders. Fonterra and FrieslandCampina, two of the five largest dairy producers in the world, as well as the EU Commission, will also be represented in proceedings.

Speaking ahead of today’s conference, the Minister said he was looking forward to hearing the various contributors at the Conference;

We are on the cusp of the most fundamental change to Irish Agriculture in a generation. Since 1984, the industry has operated within a quota environment. The shackles come off next April and following that we will have an exciting mix of opportunity and challenge for all stakeholders; farmers and rural Ireland, processors and manufacturers, agri-business and exporters. It is timely that we take stock of where we stand in terms of our preparedness for this new era. 

The Conference will be streamed live and will be available on the Department of Agriculture (www.agriculture.gov.ie ) and Teagasc (www.teagasc.ie ) websites. 

Read the full press release here.