ICMSA chief making the farm sustainable for the family
MY first impression of Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association president John Comer is of a youthful, rugged, striking man with an air of authority and quiet confidence.
I met him at the ICMSA headquarters in Limerick, a former family home which retains an outward comfortable domestic appearance, despite its new function as Ireland’s second largest farmers’ organisation.
That image of comfort carries a subliminal message of traditional farming values further enforced by the ICMSA motto, “the family farm organisation”.
It is ironic that the branding has possibly created an impression that ICMSA is limited in its focus and conservative in its outlook, because John Comer wants to marry some traditional ICMSA ideals to 21st century thinking on farm profitability and sustainability — and his personal conviction that the lifestyle choices of today’s farmers will decide if the next generation farms.
* What are your ambitions for ICMSA during your presidency?
>>There are several parts to it. We are traditionally viewed as a family farm organisation, but we must also be seen to be sharp and functional. Secondly it is my belief that the family farm unit is the most efficient way of providing sustainable food production in Europe, and ICMSA must arm itself with the arguments that prove this is so.
* Which arguments?
>> We are in an age of great change for the dairying sector. However I am not a fan of industrial or factory farming models.
If a farm business is to survive, it must be profitable, if it expands blindly, it may end up having to do so again and again just to survive.
If that happens, that business will inevitably collapse under its own weight.
Look at what happened to dairying in Denmark in the last few years. They’ve gone from nearly 34,000 dairy farms in the mid-80s to where now they haven’t 4,000, and a lot of those that are there are crippled by debt.
They undertook a massive expansion programme 10 years ago, where those who could raise the finance for expansion bought out their neighbours and then bought more quota. Then, because of the bad summer of 2009, they had the rug pulled out from under their capacity to meet repayments, and they have been trying to play catch-up ever since. The pressure on some of them is immense.
Therefore, it’s my view that moving from our more traditional farm family model of reasonably sized farms to factory or industrialised farms isn’t the way forward for the majority in Ireland.
* Do you see similar problems arising, especially after 2015?
>>I have no problem with ambition, but you must have a realistic net margin at the end of it.
But if we go down the Danish route, Teagasc and the State must be made aware that unregulated, that type of expansion will lead to immense mental and physical pressures being put on young men and women.
You have got to allow for some form of normal lifestyle.
It’s potentially a very serious issue and it’s an issue that needs to be talked about. If you were to ask me, will there be casualties and bankruptcies, I believe there will be, especially in 2015 and 2016.
* Are you saying we lack a clear plan for agriculture in Ireland?
>>If you’d asked me that question a year ago, I would have said yes, on the basis of what’s humanly achievable.
The 2020 plan was leading farmers, especially the younger dairymen, astray.
However, following last summer, some are now at least beginning to recognise that scale doesn’t solve everything, and that what is achievable is governed more by weather and your own ability than what looks good on a projections sheet.
The danger is that after 2015, we could see a lot of difficulties in the dairy sector if the price of milk goes wrong.
I keep saying it: Achievable net margins are what matter.
* Do you think that if a CAP deal is struck this summer, it will survive intact until 2020?
>> Firstly every farmer in Europe would prefer to get his income exclusively from the marketplace, but because of the way the marketplace has been allowed to develop, that isn’t possible.
Also, in this round of negotiations, I believe that politicians have not been honest with the public when it comes to explaining what the CAP is actually supposed to be about.
Catchphrases such as “greening” have been used to disguise the fact that the CAP is about supplying enough food, as well as doing so in an environmentally sustainable fashion. Some seem to have conveniently forgotten that farmers are the original green movement. But to answer your question, I do believe there will be a review.
I also believe that there could be a complete reversal of the Ciolos proposals after 2020, because the food debate will by then have gained momentum. It is possible that some form of market management measures will have to be reintroduced into the dairy sector.”
* A new quota system?
>> Possibly, yes, but with more flexibility built in.
It’s a pity that some quarters did not make more of a genuine effort to oppose the abolition of the old system.
* John Comer thank you very much.
>> A pleasure.
