Tuesday, 08 November 2016 18:02

Paid more to do less

Written by 

Europe is trying to rein in milk production by its 52,000 dairy farmers by paying them to not produce milk.

Farmers have rushed to get the cash ‘carrot’ -- 150 million euro (NZ$233 million). Agricultural commissioner Phil Hogan predicts this will cause production to fall at least 2% by late 2016, after four years of continuous increase.

It’s a last resort, said an EU official, after an earlier attempt to rein in the farmers failed. Each farmer who applies will milk 20 tonnes less (average) and will get 2800 euros (NZ$4363) compensation.

Featured

RSE Scheme Changes Coming - McClay

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.

Andy Macfarlane Joins AgriZeroNZ Board

Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Common sense

OPINION: City and regional councils have been put on notice - stop using extreme climate forecasting scenarios that can drive…

Going Green

OPINION: The Green Party’s rivers and oceans policy may have a new name but nothing else has changed.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter