I suppose it was definitely nice, meeting Kofi Annan.” Nice. He supposes. Irish Country Living is chatting to Edmond Harty, CEO of dairy equipment, and machinery manufacturer Dairymaster and he is understated to say the least.

Dairymaster has a huge and extremely impressive facility in the heart of rural Kerry (Causeway), and Edmond is talking about his career highlights to date. (His other is when Dairymaster’s Swiftflo Revolver Goat Rotary appeared on a billboard in Times Square, New York!)

Edmond chatted to Kofi Annan for a while and says he is “very nice, very, very soft spoken, and very, very interesting as well, you know?”

Well, no, we don’t know actually, because we’ve never met Kofi Annan – but then again we’ve never been named Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2012), as Edmond has. Edmond met Kofi when he was representing Ireland at the Ernst & Young 2013 World Entrepreneur of the Year competition in Monte Carlo.

Employment in Dairymaster

Dairymaster is just one exhibitor attending the Agri Careers Fair, which takes place on 30 March in the RDS. The company employs just under 400 people and will have between 35 and 40 roles to fill at the fair.

Edmond describes Dairymaster as an “engineer’s playground” because “you’ve everything from software and electronics to the machines, fabrication to toolmaking”.

Edmond says it can be difficult to get the right staff, firstly because there’s a huge variety of skills in the organistaion and secondly because there isn’t another company like Dairymaster that he can poach from.

Edmond and his father Ned are pioneers. On our tour of the factory we saw several machines Edmond and Ned invented specifically because they couldn’t find a machine to do what they needed.

Edmond says Dairymaster recruits people every year. “We to aim to grow continually, but we don’t recruit for the sake of recruiting people: we recruit if there’s the right fit – and the person is right for the organisation. We also look for the right role for the individual, because it’s important that it suits both, and that people get a buzz out of what they do.

“That’s what we find: if people like what they do, there’s a very high tendency that that’s what they’ll be good at.”

Edmond says a farming background is not necessary but it helps – primarily because Dairymaster is such a customer-focused organisation.

“First of all you’ve the tech side, and then there’s the agri side. They’re two different areas. There’s a knowledge base needed for farming, with regards to just running it as a business, and then there’s the knowledge base that’s needed for the whole software side of things. What you want is someone who has a bit of both

“Invariably, it’s not like there are a lot of agri-tech companies out there doing this type of stuff at scale. So I suppose the first point is if you’re so inclined – if you like agriculture and you like software – there are probably very few careers opportunities in that area.”

Edmond is tight-lipped about the next product Dairymaster will be putting on the marketplace. “There are about 42 people involved in R&D, so obviously they must be doing something. That’s the way I’ll word it to you!” he smiles.

But he says there is no shortage of ideas. “I would say we have a list of ideas longer than the length of two of my arms put together. You can obviously only go at a certain pace. So it’s not the shortage of ideas, it’s having enough hours in the day.”

Looking into the future and across the current political landscape, Edmond sees lots of opportunity for Dairymaster.

“The point I have always made is profitability on a farm: whatever your margin is, times your quantity. Obviously your margin depends on how efficient a farmer you are, but also if you can increase your quantity.

“Prior to quota, people actually couldn’t play with this at all. I believe the average size of the farm is going to get bigger. It’s been happening, but our national milk output was level.

“The question is: what’s the right equipment, technology or combination of the two to increase profitability on the farm while reducing labour.

“If you have over 200 cows, you should definitely be looking at a rotary. It’s by far the most efficient way to do it. The farm is getting bigger, and I reckon that trend is going to continue.”

Edmond says Germany is Dairymaster’s most important market at the moment, but America is also very important.

A huge proportion of the labour force on American dairy farms is comprised of immigrants. According to a recent study by the National Milk Producers Federation, half of all workers (out of 150,000) on US dairy farms are immigrants.

More than 40% of these immigrants are Latino and some 90% of those come from Mexico. One American farmer told the Irish Farmers Journal in November that “Americans don’t want to do this type of work anymore: roll up their sleeves and be surrounded by muck and manure.”

So is he concerned by Trump? “It’s difficult to know what he will do, because a lot of the farming scene is Republican. I think the labour thing is something, but I would argue that you know there’s too much labour on farms [in America] anyway.”

Is it an opportunity for Dairymaster if these same immigrants are kicked out by Trump? “I think there is an opportunity there. We’re going to have to see what he’s really going to do, it’s just hard to know,” says Edmond.

Of course Brexit is another relevant issue. “So I suppose it depends what you think is actually going to happen with UK farming,” says Edmond. “It’s difficult to know, but I would argue they have talked about subsidies up to 2020 and they haven’t stated after that

“I suppose, from a farmer’s point of view, worst case is subsidies go. Obviously if that happens there will be more consolidation in the industry. They’ll be on world market prices. In order to survive in that scenario, it’s going to be back to profitability equals margin by quantity. Obviously the margin is going to be squeezed, so the quantity will have to go up.”

So is Brexit another opportunity for Dairymaster? “It’s a potential opportunity, but I don’t think it’ll be as plain sailing as that. [The industry] may go through some pain, is how I’d describe it.

“You look back over the last 20 years, then you look forward. The trend has been for farms to get bigger and that’s going to continue. It’s not just today that it started. That’s been happening for the last 20 years. What’s driving us forward is innovation.

“The second point is looking after customers, customer satisfaction and service. They’re the two areas from our point of view.”

Location, location

It’s unusual for such a high-tech facility to be located somewhere as rural as Causeway in Co Kerry. Did Dairymaster ever consider upping sticks? “I think there’s an advantage in being located here [in Causeway] in terms of the people: our customer base and all of that. The disadvantage of being located here is transport, particularly when you want to go places.”

Edmond says Dairymaster has been approached by overseas investment groups. “I suppose the equivalent of the IDA overseas, knocking on our door. Obviously you listen to what they’ve to say, but up to now it hasn’t happened.

“Having a manufacturing site overseas, to replicate what’s here, is actually quite difficult because of the variety of skills needed,” he explains. Edmond notes that elements of what Dairymaster does in Causeway could be replicated abroad, but we don’t think Causeway has any cause for concern. Dairymaster isn’t going anywhere.

Finally, Edmond shares his recipe for leading a hugely successful manufacturing company in a relatively expensive Western country: having a good team, innovation and looking after your customers.

Ag Tech Conference:

The inaugural Ag Tech Conference will take place on Wednesday 29 March in the RDS, Dublin 4, and is brought to you by the Irish Farmers Journal.

Edmond Harty will be speaking at the conference along with many other high profile speakers. For the full list of speakers CLICK HERE.

Early Bird tickets €109 until 17 March, thereafter €149

Tickets can be purchased HERE

For Agri Careers exhibitor discounts please contact 01-4199578 or email events@farmersjournal.ie

Keep an eye out here for more information closer to the date or register here to receive email updates.