‘Farming is not a job, it’s a way of life,” were the words etched on a handcrafted wooden sign I spotted at a community market last weekend. It’s something many rural people can identify with as they spend a long day in a silage field, or rising at all hours at calving, or tending to sick animals.

Other agri-flavoured signs at the local market selling all kinds of crafts and foods were more on the amusing side. One invited you to ‘come into my office’ with a tractor beside it. Another proclaimed that ‘tractors are proof money can buy you happiness’.

While each one made me smile as I thought of candidates well suited to these beautiful gifts, they also underlined the uniqueness of farming as an occupation and custodians of the countryside. It also points to its emotive nature in our psyche.

As we begin our succession series this week in Irish Country Living and Irish Farmers Journal, it’s something that we need to keep to the forefront of our minds. Just as every farm and family is different, so too is every succession story.

The uniqueness of every succession story

On our cover this week we meet the McDonnell family from Mountnugent in Co Cavan, who converted from dairy to organic tillage in 2020, and they identify this move as the key to their succession success.

In many ways, this family farm has lots in common with others passed down through the generations, but what is refreshing is that Barney and Siobhan talked, and more importantly, listened to their children and found a way to make the farm work in the future for everyone. In the process, they discovered a new sustainable business that involves the whole family. For Barney McDonnell, succession was a natural progression.

“To anyone up the road, nothing has changed here. I know what I’m doing; the only difference, really, is my name is off my account,” says Barney.

Succession isn’t just about paperwork or money – it’s about ensuring the farm business stays viable, family relationships remain strong, and the retiring farmer has a clear path forward for the future on and off-farm. We hope the content over the next four weeks will prove thought-provoking and start some honest chats at the kitchen table or in the shed where everyone can be heard and respected without any assumptions or expectations.

Maria Walsh and a major milestone

Another person who has put succession at the top of her agenda is MEP Maria Walsh with her work on generational renewal. It is entirely fitting, then, that she is the first guest on Irish Country Living’s new podcast, This is Country Living, airing this weekend. While the upcoming CAP vote is on the horizon in 2027, so too is another major milestone, as Maria prepares to welcome her first child in October.

As a gay woman in public life and living in the countryside, the former Rose of Tralee talks to Irish Country Living editor Ciara Leahy and journalist Janine Kennedy about her solo journey to parenthood and the juggle with a busy political career in Brussels and beyond. It will be a compelling listen to a candid conversation for anyone with ties to rural life, so be sure to check it out this Saturday on your weekend car journeys, walks, or as you work around the home or in the milking parlour.