EUROPE’S DAIRY fund has been extended by €300m, increasing the cash available to assist the dairy sector in marketing, restructuring, assistance for deprived areas and research into new products.

The increase was welcomed by European Parliament agri-committee member, Alyn Smith. who said that while the dairy fund was not the final answer to the problems in the EU’s milk market, it was certainly a useful tool to tackle some of the worst impacts.

The agri-committee also voted for an increase in the EU school milk budget from €80m to €90m, and voted in favour of continued funding for the EU Farm Prices and Margins Observatory, which was created to compile credible data on the difference between what producers receive for produce and the amount consumers pay.

“All politicians will give you warm words, but the proof of the pudding is whether you get any money out of us!” said Mr Smith. “The budget process does not get the attention it deserves, but this is where we actually put numbers to our priorities in order to make them happen.

“So good news for the dairy sector, albeit I suspect it is a silver lining to what remains a muckle big storm cloud.

“Similarly, I have been frustrated that the FPMO has not been implemented as quickly as I would have liked, but it remains a worthwhile venture and I am pleased to see funding continue when there were plenty who wanted to stop it altogether,” he added.