The new Commission on Generational Renewal has to focus on farm income levels and farmer viability, according to Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman.
The commission was announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue with an aim to encourage more young people into the agricultural sector.
The minister said that this is an “appropriate time” to consider whether the framework currently in place provides support to young farmers thinking of entering the sector and effectively encourages generational renewal.
Gorman said that farm incomes are “key” to attracting the next generation into farming and that this commission “cannot be a talking shop”.
“Unless we can attract the next generation into farming, we are facing an existential crisis in the sector.
“Before the Tullamore Show I highlighted that less than 7% of farmers are under the age of 35, a figure which has more or less halved in the last 20 years,” Gorman said.
“Unless we reverse this trend, farming and the wider rural economy will go into long-term terminal decline,” he added.
Generational renewal
The 2023 Teagasc National Farm Survey highlighted that just 28% of all farms classed as viable.
The situation on drystock farms was more challenging, particularly on cattle rearing farms where only 11% were deemed viable in 2023, the figure down 5% year-on-year.
The regional figures are also stark, with 38% of farms in the south classified as viable, 29% in the east and midlands, along with 13% in the north and west.
Gorman said that income challenges and “increasing regulatory burden” are “putting the next generation off”.
“Without a viable future for the current generation, there is little or no chance of successors coming through,” Gorman said.
He said that the commission should focus on those two issues “as a matter of priority”.