The final figures submitted by the member states make clear the success of the scheme to reduce milk production in the EU, the European Commission says in a press release on Thursday 6 July (see EUROPE 11764).
Some 48,290 dairy farmers took part in the scheme, which helped increase milk prices and led to a total reduction of 1.12 million tonnes. Out of the original allocated budget of €150 million, close to €112 million was used to compensate the farmers who agreed to reduce their milk production levels.
The scheme was one of the principal measures put in place by the Commission to counterbalance the effects of the milk sector crisis (see EUROPE 11610). The unused portion of the €150 million will be made available to the European agricultural budget and used, if necessary, for market measures.
The milk production reduction scheme was announced in July 2016 and ran from the last quarter of 2016 to January 2017. To encourage farmers to reduce their milk production, the scheme offered support in the form of €0.14 for every kilogramme of milk production that was agreed to be reduced. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)