Macra na Feirme president, Sean Finan gives his view:

Young farmer and generational renewal in agriculture are fundamental for the sustainability and long-term competitiveness of the Irish agricultural industry. In this budget young farmers want to see favourable taxation policy which ensures that we are well positioned to meet the challenges that we face and position us to play our part in the delivery of growth and prosperity for the agricultural sector in the future. Favourable taxation measures including extension of 100% young farmer staff duty relief, 100% young farmer stock relief and retention of 90% agricultural relief will benefit young farmer and new entrants to the industry.

These reliefs will benefit the wider economy and are also very important for economic development in rural areas. As young farmers we are a vital component to provide the lifeblood and energy that rural communities require, providing direct and indirect employment, as well as providing raw materials for export while at the same time protecting the environment and managing the countryside.

Access to education, finance and land

As I travel around the country in my role as national president of Macra na Feirme, I meet a huge number of young farmers and hear about their issues on the ground. The main issues arising for them is access to education, finance and land. In recent budgets we have seen favourable tax measures to incentivise long-term leasing. The leasing measures were welcomed and have resulted in an increased amount of land becoming available for long-term lease by young farmers.

We are calling for education to be resourced and that availability of education is not a barrier to entry into agriculture. Young farmers have to have started their agricultural education by September 2016 to avail of the new young farmer top-up and National Reserve. This requirement is putting huge pressure on agricultural education providers and we are calling on the Minister for Agriculture to ensure resources are put in place to cater for this increased demand.

Access to finance is an issue for young farmers and a vital ingredient for success. As we are starting out in the industry, we don’t have the financial resources built up over the years and don’t have assets to use as security for loans in most cases. The European Investment Bank has established a multi billon euro fund and I’m calling on the Government to complete an ex-ante impact assessment for young farmer financial instruments and create the necessary financial instruments under the Rural Development Programme to make the fund available to young trained Irish farmers.

We as young farmers are highly skilled, motivated, technically aware and hugely ambitious for the success of our businesses. If we are given the taxation and financial tools in this budget to drive our business forward we will play our part in achieving the targets set out in FoodWise 2025 and play our part in producing the food to feed the world.

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Budget 2016: full coverage