The age limit associated with the recently confirmed 60% TAMS grant for female farmers will exclude 12,437 women who are actively farming.

That is according to the Women in Agriculture Stakeholders Group (WASG), which has said that the 40-55-year category, introduced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), will see just 5,576 female farmers benefit immediately.

The organisation has called for the age limit of 55 to be increased to the incoming pension age of 67.

“No business person would accept that they have to stop innovating or expanding at 55 and farmers, male or female, shouldn’t be expected to either.

She said the WASG fully understands and respects the need for generational renewal and has proposed that the age limit should be raised to the incoming pension age of 67.

The 60% TAMS grant is available to women working on farms who have, at least, a level 6 agricultural qualification who join a farm in a partnership.

The WASG said that given how active women of all ages are on farms across the country, this age limit is not acceptable, especially for women hoping to formalise their contribution to the farm through a partnership arrangement.

“We've already had a situation where older women working on farms have been cut off from receiving a State pension because their PRSI stamps weren't paid.

"There are up to 40,000 wives working on farms every day. Farmers are smart enough to see that this TAMS measure will benefit women and men in a partnership situation and strengthen the family farm,” she said.