I would encourage you all to read Joan Noble’s column coming up in the April issue on the horsemeat scandal. While dairy is not horsemeat, she makes very good points about how this issue is going to have reverberations throughout the European Union, as countries decide that buying local is best and enact protectionist measures to help keep their citizenry safe from the perils of foreign food. There is an issue of trust that has been destroyed here, and horsemeat is one issue that shows why Europeans no longer trust the European Union. It starts with horsemeat but where will it end? The issue has just revealed a weakness that had been underlying European trade for some time.

Buying local may be no bad thing, but for countries that are relying on exports to dig them out of the dairy hole that they find themselves in due to the perfect storm of terrible weather and higher inputs in 2012, tariffs and import duties will make trying to ship their products out difficult. Governments may also be tempted to use such schemes as money-making enterprises, which will be of limited value for them.

There is no easy way out of the European economic crisis, and short-sighted thinking is likely to exacerbate the issue. Politicians have a very long history of ignoring the law of unintended consequences. The news this week that Cyprus is seeking to grab 10 per cent of savings in banks on the island is a very clear indicator of this thinking. Right now, Cypriot banks are closed to avoid a run on the currency. If I were in a Eurozone country, I would feel a lot less secure about my savings, seeing that. People will start sticking money back under the mattress. Not good for anyone.

Running a dairy business is not just about making dairy products. Stay domestic and be captive to the local market. Export and be captive to other countries’ ideas about economics. I think Dairy UK’s new Dairy Exporters’ Group is going to have a lot of queries.