Milk Reduction Scheme

The EU Commission has announced that more than 52,000 farmers across the EU have applied for the first tranche of the Milk Production Reduction Scheme; 1,849 from the UK.  In total, Member States have applied to reduce production by 1,029 million litres, leaving only just over 11m litres for the remaining periods of the scheme.  Originally, there was to be four tranches running through to the end of March, but this is looking very unlikely, with little capacity left for even the second tranche.

The UK has applied to reduce production by 109 million litres over the period October-December compared to 2015 levels; this is some 3% less.  According to the AHDB, UK milk levels are currently already quite a bit below this at nearly 8% lower than year-earlier levels and therefore we may not actually see much of a response to the scheme as farmers have already cut their production.

The RPA should confirm with producers shortly how much they will get paid on.  They will have to provide proof of the reduction in January, with payment expected in April.