The Israel Ministry of Agriculture plans, in an effort to end milk surpluses, to eliminate all dairy production in urban areas and to cut milk production in rural areas, it was disclosed today.
Moshe Dayan, the Minister of Agriculture, told the Israel Parliament that the urban milk production now totals 13,650,000 quarts annually. He said plans call for a reduction in rural milk output by 10,500,000 quarts. He warned that the natural increase in Israel’s milch cow herds would double their number within five years unless steps were taken to reduce the number of such milk cows.
Opening the debate on Israel’s farm situation, the Minister said the basic problem was allocation and distribution of quotas between old and new settlements. He said farming was becoming much less profitable than in the past because of increasing competition from the new settlements and because of declining prices.
He indicated that the competition would become more severe when the new settlements, representing 40 to 50 percent of Israel’s farm output, reached full production capacity. The reductions in milk farming in rural areas will be largely at the expense of the older settlements, he said, explaining that the new settlements will be permitted to develop dairy branches to ensure their viability.
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