Urgent generational renewal plan needed with 'agriculture in crisis' - farm org
Young farmers across Ireland are eagerly awaiting the policy proposals on generational renewal that are due to be brought forward to the government by the end of this month.
A Commission on Generational Renewal in Farming has been tasked with examining the factors - legal, economic, social, and administrative - that contribute to the current age demographics in the sector.
The commission launched a public consultation on generational renewal late last year. Agriland has learned that 31 responses were received, of which the commission subsequently met with 10.
A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) said: "The commission continues to meet regularly and [its] report on policy options is due to be submitted to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine shortly.
"Submissions to the public consultation covered several key issues and will be published in due course. The commission is still finalising the format and content of its report."
With most recent available figures showing that only 4.35% of farm-holders are under 35 years-of-age, and some 37% of farmers are over 65, agriculture is "in crisis" and a plan on generational renewal is needed urgently, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) farm family and social affairs committee chair Teresa Roche has said.
The IFA has highlighted the urgent need to support both younger and older farmers in entering and exiting the industry in its submission to the commission's public consultation.
The submission emphasises key challenges such as access to land, financial support, and the burden of regulatory requirements, which often discourage younger generations from taking up farming.
According to the IFA, "there is no one measure that can encourage more young people into agriculture - but rather a combination of factors".
Roche said that it is critical that policy proposals beneficial for farming are acted on immediately.
A generational renewal "plan" for Ireland is "long overdue" and vital to "future-proof" the agricultural sector, Roche told Agriland.
"We want to see small family farms being able to survive and succeed; but without a generational renewal plan, we cannot future-proof or give support to the younger generation coming through."
Roche added that reassurance is also needed for older farmers through the introduction of a pension scheme to encourage them to transfer farms.
"There needs to be support and incentive to get people to continue to farm because farming has fallen off a cliff-edge with numbers. We need to show it in a positive manner as a lifestyle, but also in terms of income."
According to the IFA, one of the most critical supports that needs to be addressed is access to finance.
The IFA said that competitive finance over a long-term (20+ years) period to reduce repayment burden in early start-up years of establishment, with no security, is required.
"Access to finance is a major barrier to entering agriculture in your own right and increasing the availability of accessible finance to the next generation will encourage more young people to explore agriculture as a viable option.
"A new succession scheme will provide financial assistance and encouragement to more mature farmers to create succession plans and implement these plans."
The IFA is keen to see the introduction of a farm succession scheme, as committed to in the Programme for Government, to allow financial security for older farmers, Roche explained.
The IFA farm family and social affairs committee chair added that "red tape" must be reduced under the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and sufficient support for generational renewal committed.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon is representing Ireland at the informal AgriFish Council meeting in Warsaw hosted by the Polish Presidency of the EU this week.
This meeting provides opportunity for discussions with EU counterparts on the importance of CAP, ahead of the European Commission's proposals for the bloc's next budget in the coming weeks.
The policy focus of today's meeting was generational renewal, with the minister stating that a "robust and dedicated CAP budget to support farm viability, competitiveness and innovation" is needed, along with specific supports for young trained farmers.
The IFA's Teresa Roche has also stressed that Budget 2026 must provide for young farmers.
She said that agriculture "is in crisis" and that a guarantee is needed for the next generation of farmers by way of financial aid, and that older farmers "truly deserve" measures that properly support them too and acknowledge their contribution to the sector.
Roche added that farmers "want to be able to produce food sustainably and economically as well, with a fair price for the food they produce".
