diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/BaseTask.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/BaseTask.java
index 6e66298a827..2b8daf16972 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/BaseTask.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/BaseTask.java
@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ public abstract class BaseTask {
 		myFailureAllowed = theFailureAllowed;
 	}
 
+	protected boolean isFailureAllowed() {
+		return myFailureAllowed;
+	}
+
+
 	public String getFlywayVersion() {
 		String releasePart = myProductVersion;
 		if (releasePart.startsWith("V")) {
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
index 2b6033a0be9..e21d008bccf 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTask.java
@@ -62,10 +62,17 @@ public class ModifyColumnTask extends BaseTableColumnTypeTask {
 		}
 
 		Long taskColumnLength = getColumnLength();
-		if (taskColumnLength != null && isNoColumnShrink()) {
+		boolean isShrinkOnly = false;
+		if (taskColumnLength != null) {
 			long existingLength = existingType.getLength() != null ? existingType.getLength() : 0;
 			if (existingLength > taskColumnLength) {
-				taskColumnLength = existingLength;
+				if (isNoColumnShrink()) {
+					taskColumnLength = existingLength;
+				} else {
+					if (existingType.getColumnTypeEnum() == getColumnType()) {
+						isShrinkOnly = true;
+					}
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -129,6 +136,10 @@ public class ModifyColumnTask extends BaseTableColumnTypeTask {
 				throw new IllegalStateException("Dont know how to handle " + getDriverType());
 		}
 
+		if (!isFailureAllowed() && isShrinkOnly) {
+			setFailureAllowed(true);
+		}
+
 		logInfo(ourLog, "Updating column {} on table {} to type {}", getColumnName(), getTableName(), type);
 		if (sql != null) {
 			executeSql(getTableName(), sql);
@@ -139,4 +150,5 @@ public class ModifyColumnTask extends BaseTableColumnTypeTask {
 			executeSql(getTableName(), sqlNotNull);
 		}
 	}
+
 }
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
index d34d4bb942e..a7763ee927d 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-migrate/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/migrate/taskdef/ModifyColumnTest.java
@@ -269,4 +269,29 @@ public class ModifyColumnTest extends BaseTest {
 		assertTrue(existingColumnType.equals(task.getColumnType(), task.getColumnLength()));
 	}
 
+
+	@Test
+	public void testShrinkDoesntFailIfShrinkCannotProceed() throws SQLException {
+		executeSql("create table SOMETABLE (PID bigint not null, TEXTCOL varchar(10))");
+		executeSql("insert into SOMETABLE (PID, TEXTCOL) values (1, '0123456789')");
+
+		ModifyColumnTask task = new ModifyColumnTask("1", "123456.7");
+		task.setTableName("SOMETABLE");
+		task.setColumnName("TEXTCOL");
+		task.setColumnType(AddColumnTask.ColumnTypeEnum.STRING);
+		task.setNullable(true);
+		task.setColumnLength(5);
+
+		getMigrator().addTask(task);
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+
+		assertEquals(1, task.getExecutedStatements().size());
+		assertEquals(new JdbcUtils.ColumnType(BaseTableColumnTypeTask.ColumnTypeEnum.STRING, 10), JdbcUtils.getColumnType(getConnectionProperties(), "SOMETABLE", "TEXTCOL"));
+
+		// Make sure additional migrations don't crash
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+		getMigrator().migrate();
+
+	}
+
 }