Consultation on agricultural products Public Intervention and Private Storage Aid

Views sought on amending legislation on intervention and financial support to overcome severe market disturbance.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has launched a consultation on proposed amendments to retained direct European Union legislation.

Following the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, legislation which provided for intervention in the agricultural markets, and the provision of financial support to the agricultural sector, during actual or threatened severe market disturbance remained in place.

DAERA is now considering making amendments to this legislation, relating to public intervention and private storage aid. DAERA wants to ensure that these arrangements are more appropriate to local circumstances and better suit the new Future Farm Support and Development Programme that will operate in Northern Ireland.

Public Intervention and Private Storage Aid are longstanding market intervention mechanisms that have existed under the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for supporting market prices. They seek to do so by reducing the supply of goods on the domestic market, and thereby raising market prices.

Under Public Intervention, a specified product would be purchased by relevant authority and held until market price recovers and stabilises, for eligible products such as:

• skimmed milk powder
• butter
• paddy rice
• common wheat
• durum wheat
• beef
• veal
• barley
• maize

Under Private Storage Aid, a specified product is stored by processor for specified period of time with support for storage costs being provided, for eligible products such as,

• white sugar
• olive oil
• flax fibre
• fresh or chilled beef aged eight months or more
• butter
• cheese
• skimmed milk powder
• pigmeat
• sheepmeat
• goatmeat

Find out more about the consultation and how to respond.

First published 30 August 2023