Agriland/ICMSA Farmer Survey: Panel
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What does the Agriland/ICMSA survey reveal about farmers planning to exit?
Well, the survey I mentioned earlier was commissioned by AgriLand and the ICMSA, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association. And it shows that it isn't actually just older farmers who want out. One in five farmers in their late 40s and early 50s, which is young in the business, say they're also likely to leave. Half of those planning to exit have no successor lined up. And the same survey says access to land is one of the biggest barriers for people trying to get into farming. So why aren't those leaving and those wanting in finding each other? Well, to pick it all apart, I have three different perspectives from three guests. Dennis Drennan is president of the ICMSA. Patrick Brady manages the Land Mobility Service.
That was set up by MACRA, which matches farmers stepping back with young farmers who are looking for land. And it is the service that James and Thomas used. And Dan Murphy from South West Kerry is from Tal of Beo, a farm organisation that represents small scale and agroecological farmers. And he's also the co-founder of Tal of Oak. You're all very welcome, gentlemen. Dennis, I might start with you there.
Why are younger farmers (35‑55) considering leaving agriculture?
Back of an envelope calculation, one in three farmers, that's about 44,000 people planning to leave in the next few years. You've called this a cliff edge. Is this basically get big or get out in action?
Good morning to all your listeners. Look, it's very surprising. It's a very comprehensive survey. The demographics of the survey, the geographic spread, the sectorial spread was almost perfect with CSO figures. So we've done the survey in conjunction with AgriLand, carried out with opinions and can be fully verified. So it's very frightening figures. The one in three you could probably accept in the sense that we've over 40% of our farmers are beyond retirement age. So you would like to see them getting on and enjoying their retirement. But the more frightening figure, I suppose, was the one in five between 35 and 55. You would imagine those would have been the people that would have been able to take advantage of other people getting out and maybe making their own holdings bigger and more viable and securing a future for them until his retirement age.
But to have one in five of that age group is very worrying. And look at the overwhelming reason for these people saying that they were going to exit is income volatility.
How does income volatility affect farmers’ decisions to stay or leave?
And it's something we've been highlighting for years. The boom to bust cycle of the commodity markets and the price that we get for a product is really hard for any young person to get in or any person with kids in college, mortgages to pay. repayments to make. It's very difficult when you don't have a consistent and stable income from year to year.
Patrick, when a farm comes available and there is no successor, where does it usually end
up? It usually ends up with us, hopefully. And we will, if they don't have an successor, they will probably end up maybe leasing it, maybe entering a collaborative arrangement or in time then it may be sold.
And often to a neighbour?
Often to a neighbour or maybe to a relative or it could be to an outside party then, depending on the scale or the size of the farm.
And when you speak to these people, Patrick, what are they saying to you as to why they're getting out?
They're getting out maybe due to age in some cases or maybe that they've worked hard for the past 10 or 20 years and they think it's time to retire. Or maybe it could be a family choice that maybe they want to enjoy their retirement better with their family.
Dan, just to go to you, I mean, Dennis describes this cliff edge, but your organisation has long said that there are loads of people trying to get into farming, particularly young people, first-time farmers. Can you just describe who is coming to you wanting to get into farming?
Yep.
What solutions does the Land Mobility Service offer to match exiting farms with new farmers?
What we can talk about here is the people that are under 35 in Ireland as well. It talks about 4.3% of Irish farmers are counted in that demographic. And that's including first generation and people succeeding into farms.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What does the Agriland/ICMSA survey reveal about farmers planning to exit?
0:00–1:04
2
Why are younger farmers (35‑55) considering leaving agriculture?
1:04–2:13
3
How does income volatility affect farmers’ decisions to stay or leave?
2:13–3:39
4
What solutions does the Land Mobility Service offer to match exiting farms with new farmers?
3:39–5:05
5
Why aren’t exiting farmers and aspiring new farmers connecting at scale?
5:05–6:55
6
How can alternative farming models and better income stability attract young entrants?
6:55–8:53
7
What role do consumers and policy funding play in supporting small‑scale Irish farms?
8:53–10:13