Limited cash left for second round of EU dairy scheme

Dairy farmers who made an application to the first round of the EU’s milk production reduction scheme will be accepted, but as anticipated there is limited money left to fund the second tranche of the initiative.

The EU Commission has revealed more than 52,000 farmers across all 28 member states have applied to the scheme, which aims to stabilise prices by reducing milk production.

The scheme involves paying farmers the equivalent of 12.2p/litre to cut production over a three-month period. A total of €150m (£129m) has been allocated to fund the scheme across Europe.

See also: 1,800 UK farmers apply for EU dairy reduction scheme

Although the commission originally planned for four rounds of the scheme, figures published on Tuesday (26 September) show most of the money will be spent during the first reference period.

EU farmers applied to cut production between October and December 2016 by a total of 1.06m tonnes. This means there is only enough money in the budget to pay for a reduction of 11,400t during the second round of the scheme – due to run from 1 November 2016 to 31 January 2017.

The RPA is expected to write to farmers over the next few days to confirm the amount of reduction on which they can apply for payment.

Producers will be required to submit proof in January that they have cut production by the levels required. They should be paid sometime in April.

According to the RPA, a total of 1,849 UK farmers applied for the scheme.