This is according to a report by the European Commission on the needs of young farmers across the 28 member states.

Problems around land availability, and succession in particular, are likely to emerge for young farmers in the UK. The report states “unless the manager of a farm has grown the farm over the course of his or her working life to the extent that all of his or her children can enter a thriving farming business then problems around succession are likely to emerge”.

In addition to this, there may be three generations linked to one business, making it difficult for the young farmer to develop the business. Inheritance law also has an effect in the UK in relation to taxes and whether the farm will be divided between the inheritors or not.

Finance

Young farmers in the UK think it is easier in other countries, such as France, to get finance through specific schemes. In terms of access to credit, the banks are very selective about whom they lend to and a young farmer really needs to own land already to borrow money.

There are two broad types of young farmers that have different needs:

“The first are the sons and daughters of existing farmers and the second are new entrants. The first category farmers are more likely to already have access to land. They can access credit by providing the land as a guarantee.

“The second category of young farmers is in a much more difficult situation in terms of land and credit but tend to have better business skills and are more open to external advice.”

Subsidies

In the UK there are many large farms with large economies of scale and the subsidies do not address the barriers to entry, given the competition. Also, there seems to be a lot of instability about what is going to happen in this respect. The report says that in some cases farmers are happy to under-utilise their land and receive subsidies in the knowledge that land prices are going up, which represents poor allocation of land.

Development of skills

The need for personalised business advice/mentoring is a key need for young farmers in the UK and the report says there is a gap in the market for these types of services. Some of the main needs in this area include preparing business plans and methods of accessing finance.

Young farmers in the UK seem to be more interested than other young farmers in the EU in the development of skills related to specific technological knowledge necessary for the farm, skills related to resources, nature and environment management and skills related to the improvement of animal welfare.

Hindrances in obtaining information

Costs and a missing or bad internet connection seem to be more important hindrances in obtaining knowledge for the interviewed young farmers in the UK than for other young farmers in the EU. Lack of time seems to be an important hindrance as well, but this is also a problem for other young farmers in the EU.

Regional

In Scotland, there is a lot of land that is poor compared with other parts of the UK. There are opportunities for young farmers to get access to these farms that are linked with relatively lower land costs. However, it should be stressed that the cost of land is still prohibitive.

In Northern Ireland the land is very expensive which seems to be because of the conacre system whereby land is not rented in the same way as in other countries.

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Access to land biggest challenge for Ireland’s young farmers – EU report