Brexit analysis will turn to paralysis if we fail to

IRISH Agriculture has many great attributes: the love of the land, a warm, temperate climate, traceable food, biosecurity as an island nation, and of course natural grass-based livestock production.

However, we cannot get away from the fact that without EU direct payments, most of our beef, sheep, arable and small dairy farmers are losing money. If we get a hard Brexit, it could mean lower prices due to an unfavourable exchange rate with sterling and low or zero tariffs on imports into the UK for non-EU countries.

Combine this with lower EU Basic Payment Scheme entitlements as a result of the UK exit, it will significantly magnify the financial pressure facing these vulnerable low-income farmers. The question to ask is, what are we as a nation going to do, if anything, to protect these farmers?

The options presently available to these farmers are: ÷lease out the land ÷sell the land ÷forestry ÷ enter a farm partnership ÷get a job and part-time/ hobby farm.

Let’s examine each option: those who have lost the farming bug and do not want to sell land. Government is encouraging such farmers to exit farming with the taxation incentives. and move on with their lives and careers so why should this not be the case for farmers, too.

The new generation of millennials certainly have a different view of the land to former generations. It will be interesting to see if this results in more land sales in the coming years. There are tax-free thresholds from capital gains tax (CGT) to sell land for those over 55 years of age — another government incentive to exit farming.