Dairy farmers warned about the risks of post-quota expansion

Dairy farmers need to learn from the mistakes of the property boom and not leap into post-quota expansion just because everyone else is doing it, warns risk assessor John Crawley.

A former banker and property developer and currently a business turnaround adviser for Dublin Docklands Authority among others, Mr Crawley is also the founder of Dublin-based business consultancy, The Finance Expert.

“Dairy farmers need to look at their costs, their increased herd and silage and compare that figure with the price they believe they will get for the milk,” said Mr Crawley. “Then they need to realise that it may take 10 years to get this right. I’d compare that to the economy in Northern Ireland, which took a decade to settle. We have been in an era of price supports for a long time, farmers need to ask themselves how tough life would be if that were to start to unravel. When you look at those numbers and those questions, you need to ask yourself if the end of the quota era is an opportunity of a lifetime, are you happy staying as you are, or is this the logical time to pass the baton onto someone else.”