Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In 2012, the Minister announced a proposal for a new national sustainability programme for the dairy sector. This programme is a key element of Ireland’s strategy for marketing and promotion of dairy products on international markets, particularly in the context of expanded milk output following the abolition of milk quotas in April 2015.

It is evident from the engagement with potential customers for Irish food products and potential investors in the Irish agrifood sector that the sustainability message has a strong resonance with both. This programme is independently verified and establishes a point of differentiation that sets our dairy products apart in world markets. The newly developed carbon footprint element is key to demonstrating the strong climate change credentials of Ireland’s dairy sector, and indeed it has already been established that Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy sector are the joint lowest in the EU.

Dairy farmers join the sustainable dairy assurance scheme by applying through their milk purchaser. Each milk purchaser has staff trained in the operation of the scheme who can advise dairy farmers on how to prepare for application and correct any deficiencies in their operations. Once the farmer is satisfied that the operation is at the standard required by the scheme, the milk purchaser submits an application to Bord Bia through an integrated database system. Applications are then selected by Bord Bia for auditing, and following the correction of any non-compliance issues, entry to the scheme is granted. All major non-compliance issues, such as failure to have water quality tested, must be corrected before entry to the scheme is approved. Minor non-compliance issues do not prevent entry but must be corrected in time for the next audit visit. To date almost 3,500 milk producers have applied to their milk purchasers to join.

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