A successor has not been identified by 48% of NI farmers surveyed by the UFU and YFCU as part of the development of a land mobility scheme in NI.
Of the farmers that said they had no farm successor identified, 61% said that they had not sought advice or information about succession matters and one in five farmers stated they had "no reason/no good reason" for not creating a succession plan.
The survey was carried out on 442 UFU members. Of those questioned, 85% were over 50 years old, 96% were male and 85% had children.
“The evidence suggests that farmers often rely on familiar short-term mechanisms, such as conacre, and largely overlook better options, such as partnership and long-term lease arrangements,” said UFU president Barclay Bell.
Aging industry
Farmers in NI are also getting older. In 1993, 52% of farmers were over 55 years old and 26% were under 44 years old, where as in 2013 59% were over 55 and 17% were under 44.
YFCU president said that access to land was a reason for the lower percentage of younger people farming in NI. “Our agricultural colleges are full to capacity, so it is clear many young people want a career in farming, but land mobility remains a barrier,” she said.
As for the growing number of older farmers, the survey suggests that a reluctance for older farmers to retire is a factor. Of the farmers with no succession plan, 42.5% said that they did not want to retire from farming with 34% citing the main reason was "to keep fit and active".
One in five farmers who have a successor identified, said that the transfer will happen through a will. Simmons commented that delaying transfer until death can discourage the younger person from investing in the farm.
Retirement plans
However, 36.5% with no succession plans in place said that they do hope to retire. These farmers in particular would be of interest to the land mobility scheme. Overall, 53% of respondents without a succession plan said that they would be interested in a succession service.
Almost half of respondents without a succession plan said that the state pension would be their main source of income in retirement and 77.5% said that they either need or possibly need an income from the farm retirement.
An issue for some farmers can be keeping the farm within the family. However, approximately a third of farmers without a successor stated that this was "neither unimportant nor important" or "not important" to them, regarding the family owning or farming the land or the land staying within the family name.