Inside Track Q&A: Patrick Rooney, owner, Derrycamma Farm, Rapeseed Oil

What is special about your business?
Our rapeseed oil is a totally natural product. We grow our own oilseed rape crop here in Co Louth and then extract the oil using a mechanical press and no chemicals to ensure the natural goodness of the oil is preserved.

The oil is used as the raw material for our range of dressings and infused oils.

What sets your products apart in your sector?
We use sustainable production methods together with total traceability from field to shop.

We complete every stage of the production process on our farm.

Also, rapeseed oil is unique in having half the saturated fat and 10 times the Omega 3 level of Olive Oil.

Many top cardiologists now recommend it as part of a low-cholesterol diet.

What has been your biggest challenge?
Staying ahead off the posse. We need to constantly develop new products to maintain a unique selling point.

A few years ago it was enough to produce rapeseed oil, as it was new and very few were doing it.

Now you need to have a broader range of products to attract buyers’ interest.

What key piece of advice would you give to someone starting a food business?
Don't enter a sector that is already saturated with great products. Try to identify a gap or niche in the market in which you can establish yourself before bigger players arrive. Aim for quality premium markets. Join the Bord Bia Brand Forum.

Who do you admire most in business and why?
I have always had the height of respect for the women of Moore Street in Dublin who manage to survive despite the lack of EU subsidies.

Also Tommy McGuinness in Dundalk, who has built Horseware Products into "the" brand for international show-jumpers.

What two things could the Government do to help SMEs in the current environment?
Directors who have self-administered pension funds should be allowed borrow from the fund without tax penalties if the SME cannot secure bank loans.

SMEs should be encouraged to invest in renewable energy by making it attractive to sell excess electricity back to the grid.

In your experience are the banks' lending to SMEs currently?
I think if there is any level of risk they won't lend and by only lending to customers where there is absolutely no possibility of default, they are producing reports that give the impression that they are supporting the SME sector.

What's the biggest mistake you've made in business?
Not realising the opportunities that exist within the Irish food sector. Very small operations can build brands and compete. If I could roll the clock back, I would concentrate on producing food products rather than growing crops for a commodity market.

What is the most frustrating part of running a small business?
To compete with the big boys, you have to have excellent packaging and marketing materials but because your quantities are much smaller the unit cost can sometimes prohibit you from doing what you would really like to do.

What's your business worth and would you sell it?
Some day we will sell but not until we can afford to live on the shores of Carlingford Lough and listen to waves as we nod off to sleep.

In conversation with Olive Keogh