Land ladies on
Call for CAP 2020 female farmers boost
ARECENT Labour Force Survey shows that Ireland lags far behind the EU average when it comes to the percentage of females working in agriculture. While the EU average is 35pc, the current Irish figure stands at just 11.6pc.
Some of Ireland’s brightest female farmers feel it’s time we called a halt to the traditional structure of handing down the farm to the eldest son and that women with an interest in agriculture should look toward a farm structure that works for their lifestyle.
While Maighread Barron’s father was happy for his daughter to enter a fourway farm partnership with himself, his wife Catherine and son John on the family dairy farm in Ballinamult, Co Waterford, following a stint of working on farms locally, the Dairy Business graduate was keen to be her own boss.
“I think we all would’ve gone a bit mad working together because there would’ve been so many different opinions in the mix. I wanted somewhere where everything would be down to me and I’d have my own authority,” says the 24-year-old. With the aim of being her own boss in mind, Maighread has started a 15-year lease on a 100ac dairy farm in Clonea, Co Waterford, where she plans to milk a 106-strong herd consisting of British Holstein Friesians and dairy cross-breds.
While Maighread is currently preparing for her first round of calving on the farm, she admits she was worried when pitching to farmers that they wouldn’t want to lease to a female farmer. “I was worried farmers wouldn’t pick me because I’m a woman and you have to build up a reputation when leasing, but this farmer liked my ideas and knew I wouldn’t steam roll him out,” she explains.
She adds that she has struggled with the stigma that exists around women in farming, especially when she was working on farms, but hasn’t let it hold her back. FEMALE farmers should be made a priority in CAP 2020, Independent MEP Marian Harkin has said.
Speaking to the Ms Harkin said funding within the new CAP 2020 reform should prioritise young farmers, in particular young female ones.
“There’s an opportunity within the new CAP to examine how we can prioritise young women and encourage and empower women to enter farming,” she said. “CAP can play a role. It could be looking into quotas to promote female involvement. We need to get to a point where there’s equal opportunities for female farmers.”
Ms Harkin also added that funding should be allocated within the Rural Development Programme for women in the form of training, as without female involvement in the rural agricultural economy, it won’t have a viable future.
“It’s not a simple issue, but funds should be gender balanced. If we don’t have women in the rural economy, we won’t have a sustainable rural economy. There’s so “When working on farms in the past, I only ever came across one female labourer. I was well able to calve cows by myself, but I sometimes got stick that I wasn’t able,” she says. “Farming is physically and mentally demanding and I do worry what if something happens down here at two o’clock in the morning and I won’t be strong enough, but you can’t think like that.”
Farm Relief Services much talk of the family farm by the Government, but the female is the backbone of this structure and needs to be supported.”
Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness also pointed out that payments should have a “gendered aspect as, increasingly, women are getting involved in farm management and taking on a more high-profile role on farms.
“Women are studying agriculture in universities and colleges and this is a welcome development.”
While figures at UCD’s School of Agriculture and Food Science show a fairly even split along gender lines (male 54pc and female 46pc), 90pc of students in the Dairy Business course are male. According to Dairy Business course co-ordinator Dr Karina Pierce, it’s the role of parents to change this gender disparity.
“Parents are the biggest influence on their children’s career choices,” she said. “They need to start viewing it as a viable career choice for their daughters.”