Is the farming industry losing its farmers?
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What does the new ICMSA survey reveal about farmer exits?
The Claire Byrne Show on News Talk with Aviva Insurance.
So now we have this new national st survey from the ICMSA, which has revealed that farming is approaching a cliff edge. One in three farmers are planning to leave within the next five years. What's even more striking is that it's not just the sixty-five and over cohort. One in five farmers aged between thirty-five and fifty-five intend to leave within the next five years too. Well, my next guess are directly affected by the issues. I'm joined by president of the ICMSA, Dennis Drennan, and dairy farmer Louise Crowley, and you're both welcome. Dennis, I'm going to speak to you first because I see from this survey, and it was comprehensive, over two thousand farmers were were surveyed. It's income volatility that is the big problem, Dennis, is it?
Yeah, good morning Claire and good morning to all your listeners. Yeah, I mean it's a really really extensive survey, like so the margin of error error would be very small. And if you look at the people who went who actually took part in the survey, it really matches up with say the CSO figures on the percentage in each sector and each age group. Um but yeah, it's a really worrying trend and we're looking at a third of farmers planning on exit exiting and then we dug into that like as regards why is the reason and income volatility. It's something we've been campaigning on for probably ten or twelve years at this point in time. Like any twenty two or twenty three year old or twenty five year old that's looking at entering the sector
What they want is stability. They want to be able to get a mortgage and build or buy their house and uh, you know, have have planning for the future where they're going to have a stable income comparable with with other sectors and be able to put food on the table for their family every year.
Well, uh Limerick dairy farmer Louise Crowley is on the line.
Why are young and mid‑career farmers considering leaving agriculture?
Louise, does that fit with what you're seeing for yourself and amongst your your colleagues who are farming?
Yes, certainly, Claire. And like I'm thirty-one, I'm farming full time myself. And when I talk to people of my age, while there is absolutely an appetite for farming, they're looking at the hours, the investment required, the regulation and particularly the uncertainty around income. And they're asking, you know, can I risk putting my life um being reliant on this profession, on this career? Is it going to be there for me long term? You know, when 77% of farmers are saying income volatility is a major barrier from entering farming or are for and is preventing those in it from progressing and improving their enterprises. You also have nearly half saying that they haven't been able to take leisure time off farms.
in the last year. Like we can tell young people that we want them in agriculture. But unless we give them a viable income, some certainty and reasonable quality of life, they're going to make a rational decision and to go and do something else. Yeah, I'm not sure. Because we're competing because
we have
competing with careers. That's it. We've such
a strong economy now that there are all sorts of options available to you if what you want is a decent salary and the certainty of knowing what you're going to be earning next year and the year after.
Yes, like we're competing with careers that offer like predictable salaries. There you have set holidays, you have a much clearer idea of what is expected of you and you can make a plan for an a an actual future. Whereas as a young person in farming at the moment, you don't know whether uh policy is going to shift.
How does income volatility affect farmers’ ability to invest and plan?
Are you going to have to completely reroute your plan for your farm? Is it going to ultimately maybe eliminate a farmer from the setup. In terms of myself, I'm a derogation farmer. If we lose our derogation, I will unfortunately lose my job. I will, I'm the last into the farm, I will be the first person that has to leave it. So while my farm is lucky to have an appointed successor, Well that successor could be very quickly uh eliminated out of it uh by a change of policy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What does the new ICMSA survey reveal about farmer exits?
0:01–1:41
2
Why are young and mid‑career farmers considering leaving agriculture?
1:41–3:26
3
How does income volatility affect farmers’ ability to invest and plan?
3:26–5:03
4
What challenges do dairy farmers like Louise face on a daily basis?
5:03–6:12
5
How could an income‑volatility fund stabilize farm incomes?
6:12–7:56
6
Why are consumers expecting cheap food and how might that change?
7:56–9:36
7
What role does social media play in shaping public perception of farming?
9:36–11:10
8
What are the key take‑aways and next steps for preserving the farming sector?
11:10–12:20