Archive Article: 2000/03/31
• IRISH agriculture minister Joe Walsh has fixed the price for leasing milk quota at just 4p/litre, as he seeks to reduce costs for committed producers. In future, permanent transfers will take place almost exclusively under the Restructuring Scheme (at 30p/litre), with 70% of quota targeted at farmers with less than 160,000 litres (27 cows).
• GERMAN chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was treated to the best of British beef when he dined with Prime Minister Tony Blair in Oxford last weekend. "Im quite confident Ill survive," he quipped after the meal.
• FRANCE reported its 12th case of BSE this year on Monday (Mar 27) in an eight-year-old dairy cow in the central Haute-Vienne region. This was the 92nd BSE fatality in the past 10 years, with the authorities blaming cross-contamination by feed intended for non-ruminants. All 112 cows in the latest herd to be affected have been destroyed in line with French regulations.
• FOOD and drink manufacturers face big cuts in their export refunds as Brussels seeks to keep within limits agreed under the last world trade agreement. The EU Commission is looking for savings of k145m on processed foods and drinks next year – 26% less than this year – a move which now has the approval of most farm ministers. *