Stephen Cadogan: Credit caution needed to sustain dairy farming boom

The general population’s struggle with indebtedness serves as a useful reminder to dairy farmers that becoming overly indebted is one of the big hazards of expansion.

Interest rates worldwide are at such low levels now that they can be guaranteed to go to higher levels at some stage during the borrowing terms of expanding dairy farmers.

In the 1980s, when interest rates rose, over-borrowed farmers encountered severe difficulties.