Young farmers don’t see full-time farming as an option — but no one seems to care

When Teagasc Director Frank O’Mara told the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee before Christmas that most of its students now saw part-time farming as their future and “that might not necessarily be a bad thing”, I was surprised it didn’t generate more of a discussion.

While it’ll come as no surprise to most that, sadly, very few young people, particularly outside the dairy sector, see themselves making a full-time living from farming, I thought it was notable to hear the head of the state advisory body suggest this development may have an upside.

The Irish and rural economy has radically changed in recent decades and policymakers must now be realistic about the competitiveness of farm incomes versus the wider economy.

That said, I believe the drift of Irish farm holdings into parttime enterprises is disconcerting, and I say that as a part-time farmer myself. It’s not today or yesterday this drift began.

Income from agriculture, as a percentage of gross farm household income, decreased from 55pc in 1994-1995 to 45pc in 19992000, and to 37pc in 2004-2005. After that, the CSO stopped collecting the data. God only knows how low that figure stands today.

According to Teagasc, a quarter of farmers had an income below €5,000 in 2022, while some 57pc of farms had an income below €20,000.

The argument that it is better to have people part-time farming than not farming at all is fair.

Michael Fitzmaurice made this argument well in the Oireachtas hearing, highlighting that the part-time farmer makes a huge contribution to rural communities, where one or two families can be the difference between a school closing or remaining open.

And there are thousands of part-time farmers operating successful businesses and loving every minute of it. However, the downsides and long-term consequences of its effects have not been evaluated.

As the chairman of Wexford Macra puts it on Page 4, when the part-time farmer finishes his 9-5 job, their workday isn’t done. I’ve often heard many farmers say there’s no such thing as a part-time farmer, just a person with two full-time jobs racing to do a week’s work on a Saturday.

The impact of part-time farming on personal relationships, non-farming careers, involvement in the community, farm safety, farm education and farm performance have all been swept under the carpet.

Struggles

In the past, the part-time game was dominated by smaller holdings where full-time farming was never an option. Now more larger holdings are being transferred from a full-time parent to a part-time son or daughter, who struggles to keep all the balls in the air.

Is this the sustainable family farm model we hear the politicians banging on about all the time, and will it be sustainable over the long term?

Before Christmas, I asked all the major farm organisations for their views on the matter and Prof O’Mara’s comments, and only one, the INHFA, responded.

What I thought was most concerning and frankly depressing about Prof O’Mara’s comments was that not only are young farmers giving up on going fulltime now, but they don’t even view it as an option anymore. Alas, it seems nobody cares.

‘A quarter of farmers had an income below €5,000 in 2022’