For 20 years now, Philip O’Dwyer Agri Consultants has been administering good quality professional advice to the farming community. Irish Tractor & Agri spoke with the man himself to find out about his Kerry-based business along with his role in the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) and the Irish Farm Buildings Association (IFBA).
Keeping your company a success through decades is no easy feat, particularly in the agricultural industry, but since 1995 Philip O’Dwyer in Causeway, Co Kerry has managed to make it work.
A Kilkenny native, Philip has been involved in farming all his life and settled into life in the Kingdom after marrying his wife and starting a family, having set up his own agri consultancy firm in Foxfort, Causeway, in the meantime.
Down through the years, the company has earned its stellar reputation by liaising between the relevant stakeholders, the various departments and farmers to improve the standard of living, income and quality of the environment in the south west of Ireland.
While Philip predominantly works for farmers in North Kerry, Listowel and Tralee, his work has brought him outside Kerry’s borders on occasions and his name is a trusted one all over the south west of the country.
“We’re based in Causeway in Co Kerry and we’re established since 1995,” explained Philip.
“We’ve two working here and basically what we do is deal with all kinds of farm advisory and consultancy work, farm yard design, lay out, planning permissions and farm buildings.
“We help with all kinds of issues relating to farming, audits, Nitrate Derogations, Compliance Reports, mapping out and area calculations as well and our mission here has always been to bring quality professional advice to the farming community.”
Philip’s origins in the industry date back to his youth. “I’m originally from south Kilkenny and grew up on a mixed dairy farm and we grew a lot vegetables, tomatoes and apples there,” he outlined.
While growing up on a typical Irish farm was hardly an admission into the agri consultancy trade, he always maintained a love for farming and went on to study in UCC, UCD and U.L. Limerick. . I got my first job in Kerry and met my wife here, worked in Longford for a few years and settled down then to start up the business that I’m still in today in Kerry.”
He received his Agricultural Science Degree in UCD, worked for a few years and went and for an MBA in the University of Limerick – and I’ve kind of been doing consultancy work ever since then
Arriving into the Kingdom from a hurling stronghold may have made things tricky at the start for Philip to build up his clientele, but word of his efficient and reliable service soon spread and to this day he has a large chunk of the loyal customers that first started with him back in 1995.
Since then that customer base has grown for Philip O’Dwyer Agri Consultants and he is glad to report that they are experiencing positive growth, when it could be argued that things were at an all-time low given the economic downturn which encouraged many young farmers to look at their own farms rather than to the construction industry.
“The past couple of years have been extremely busy,” he stated. “North Kerry in particular, is an area that would have a high percentage of dairy farmers and many of them have been building new buildings or adding extensions to cattle houses, silage bases, milking parlours and larger bulk tanks recently.”
Needless to say the customers are, and always have been, Philip’s priority since setting up his firm and the busy times that he’s still experiencing reflects after 20 years reflects the hard work he’s put in, along with the success of the business.
“Most of the farmers he deals with have met him just through word of mouth,” he said.
“We try and do the best possible job we can for the people that are seeking a little advice and that means trying to reduce risk, make work more efficient and increase their income as well. 99 per cent of our planning applications are successful and in most case this is followed by an application for grant aid in TAMS II for 40 % or 60% in the case of young farmers.”
“We do the best job we can for our farmers in the agricultural sector,” he added. “There’s no magic formula or anything just correct common sense advice. Price generally doesn’t come into it when you do a good job.”
His connections with the Agricultural Consultants Association over the past two decades have opened up a network of private agricultural consultants and advisors all over the country.
“When I started in 1995, I was completing various Agricultural Scheme applications with the local Department of Agriculture. This was of crucial importance in setting the compass in the right direction for many farmers” Philip explained.
“I’ve been on several trips and tours ever since and I have to say that they’ve been a great experience.
“I was proposed to go on the Council from there and I went from Treasurer to President and then Secretary as well – Damien Donovan was elected President in November 2015.”
Having held all positions at the top table at one stage or another, Philip and his colleague on the Council of the IFBA, have come in contact with farmers at both at home and abroad and he’s picked up new ideas and experiences on every single study tour that has taken place to date.
“We hold events and conferences during the year and every second year we venture abroad,” he explained.
“We’d be exchanging ideas and it varies the numbers that come back and forth. We’d have visits abroad and through them you can make brilliant networking contacts. We were in Italy, Holland, Sweden, Wales, Scotland and Germany. In Holland, we visited universities and several other progressive high tech farms and got great feedback, it was a very enjoyable and educational trip for the members of the IFBA who travelled.”
“The most recent trip in Ireland was in Donegal and the prior trip was in Hillsborough, where we visited farms and looked at different anaerobic digesters and zoned in on different aspects of farming and always searching for new ways of doing things.”
As for 2016 as a whole, it will be about more efficiency, attention to detail and correct financial planning where return on investment is carefully considered , according to Philip. Many new young farmers will be moving up a gear and older single farmers possibly moving back a gear or two.
“Hopefully we can keep all of our customers happy for the New Year and that the good times can comeback for all of them,” he said.
“We wish them good health for them New Year, which is more important than any material things that we get worked up over. Your health is your wealth at the end of the day.”
Philip O’Dwyer Agricultural Consultants
Member of the Agricultural Consultants Association.
Foxfort, Causeway, Co Kerry
Tel: 066 713 1952
Web: philipodwyer.ie
E-mail: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 2, February 2016
