The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment stated in Horta that the "future of the Azores will certainly involve milk production," noting that "the competitive advantage of the Azores milk is the pasture and product differentiation."
 
Luís Neto Viveiros spoke at the Legislative Assembly during a debate on the regional agricultural sector. He also emphasised the reduced stock density in regional farms, grazing management and quality of milk produced as competitive factors.
 
"The average stock density in the Region is at 1.7 animals per hectare," said the government official. According to him, this is the opposite of intensification and brings environmental gains and the improvement of animal well-being.
 
The Regional Secretary also stressed that no project for permanent housing of cattle was approved in the current framework. This investment is neither encouraged by the Region nor corresponds to the type of production that distinguishes all islands.
 
The problem that European milk producing countries face concerns the provision of an outlet for milk production. This situation is the result of a confluence of factors such as the Russian embargo, the recession of consumption and the downturn in emerging markets in a new context of liberalisation. In this regard, the Secretary for Agriculture stressed the effort put in the support to Azorean farmers since this crisis has greater impact in the Region because of its condition as outermost region.
 
Luís Neto Viveiros mentioned the anticipation of payment of aid, the increase of premiums, the implementation of measures to support financial liquidity and SAFIAGRI III; the latter is a line of credit designed to support interest charges associated with bank loans for investment in agricultural activities. In addition, he also stressed, among other measures, the improvement in the efficiency of farms.
 
In his speech, the government official also stressed the aid provided to producers, “through the Agrarian Development Services" and the partnerships established with associations and cooperatives that receive public support for the hiring of technicians under PAGOP.
 
The Regional Secretary also highlighted the scope of training courses taught to thousands of farmers and the results achieved with the implementation of the Official Raw Milk Control Plan, which reinforced in the current legislative period the progress already registered in the quality of milk produced in the Region.
 
According to the government official, the Regional Government faces the challenge of "channelling additional support to a situation that is extraordinary, without diverting from the path of strategic development it has established and continued to follow." This means that the Government should "support agricultural entrepreneurs to successfully cope with the milk supply crisis that the European Commission is currently facing, without jeopardising the investment in the future of the sector."
 
In this regard, he revealed that water supply already covers 4,900 farms, with an installed storage capacity of about 500 thousand m3, and more than 300 farms are supplied with power. Currently, another one hundred farms are in the process of being connected to the power grid.
 
During the debate, Luís Neto Viveiros stressed that, in addition to public support with direct effects on private competitiveness, producers and agro-industrialists show confidence in the future through the presentation of investment projects under the new Rural Development Programme; the latter has already approved applications amounting to nearly 40 million Euros.