New initiatives in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan to improve the number of women in farming in Ireland are an "important development", the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said.

Alice Doyle, IFA farm family and social affairs chair, believes the measures in the next CAP will "hopefully" address gender imbalance and support more women to farm. 

Doyle has said that the contribution of women to Irish agriculture is significant but often undervalued. 

“Ireland is lagging far behind our European Union counterparts when it comes to the share of farms being managed or passed on to women," she said.

Earlier this week (Tuesday, October 4) the government approved Ireland’s CAP strategic plan worth almost €10 billion.

The specific measures in the CAP 2023–2027 strategic plan to support more women to get involved in farming include: 

Doyle said that addressing gender inequality and increasing the opportunities for women to farm is essential to achieving sustainability in agriculture.

Earlier this year Elizabeth Ormiston, who was the first female chair of Cavan IFA, said that in her opinion some parents were 'to blame' for lack of women in farming.

Ormiston believed there was a mind-set within agriculture that did not recognise women for their work on a farm.

She said more needed to be done to not only recognise the role that women played in the sector in Ireland but also to encourage more women to participate in representative organisations.

Previously, Ormiston had accused the IFA of "regressing into the Dark Ages instead of progressing into modern times".