Caroline Hanrahan is farming in Ballyhooly, Co Cork, with her husband Ger and their five children.

As the chair of south Munster in Dairy Women Ireland, she held a kitchen table talk on 3 July to encourage other farmers to start the succession conversation after it had come up on their home farm.

“We are coming into the area of succession at the moment ourselves. We have a son who has just finished his Leaving Certificate and is interested in studying ag science.

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"It’s a very important topic that we all need to be planning ahead for. The whole piece around communication is so important and what we found is having that open conversation is vital,” said Caroline.

Issues on the ground

Across Ireland, farmers are aging. According to Teagasc, the average farm holder is 59 and almost one-third are over 65. Yet less than half have a clear successor lined up.

The Dairygold milk suppliers census 2025-2030 highlights the same challenge, as 51% of Dairygold milk suppliers have not identified a successor and a further 13% are uncertain.

Only 15% have a clear succession plan in place and 21% have a successor identified but not formally documented.

Succession is a major focus for most co-ops across the country due to the aging demographic of dairy farmers – the average milk supplier for Dairygold is 59 years old.

Milk supply and farm succession manager with Dairygold Paul O’Connell gave a presentation to over 20 Dairy Women Ireland members who attended the kitchen table talk. He emphasised when it comes to succession, "it’s about engagement, thought process and starting the conversation".

“It is about embracing the need to normalise the conversation as it happens on every farm – every farm must at some point in its lifetime start the dialogue in terms of farm succession. There are so many questions and it’s really about simplifying the process, where do I start, who do I need to talk too and what do I need to consider,” said Paul.

The benefits of early planning are financial security, smoother handover, family harmony and farm continuity.

“The big thing is there are no two suppliers the same or two farm families the same,” and, as a result, every succession conversation and plan is individual and unique, according to Paul.

The succession journey

Succession is not a single event; it’s a journey that begins with a small conversation at the kitchen table or in the yard and ends with a clear plan for the future.

When it comes to succession, there are a number of barriers facing farmers which include the age profile of the farm, the viability of the enterprise and not knowing how to divide it carefully or equally.

“Other farmers have a clear sight of what they are doing. There are some great incentives in relation to young farmer members being brought in and actively we are seeing that transition of farm partnerships becoming more prevalent, which is positive for the future,” said Paul.

People in dairy programme manager at Teagasc Conor Hogan also spoke about the barriers he found when it comes to succession around the attractiveness of farming and work-life balance.

“There are multiple facets affecting that succession process – the big ones that come up there are access to land, access to finance and the conversation and communication dynamics and the building of trust,” said Conor.

At an EU level, Conor is seeing a shift towards focusing on the attractiveness of farming and how we get new people into the sector.

“From viable economic opportunities to people looking to step back from farming and allowing them to do that with dignity. And with young people coming through, access to finance, land and opportunity.

"There is about [a] 30% reduction in people working on farms over the last 20 years. At the same time, our workload on dairy farms has increased 30% in the last 10 years, which is creating workload pressures on farms which is interlinked to succession,” Conor explained.

The supports that are needed to help with succession, according to Conor, are encouraging conversations and developing a plan for the farm with family members and advisers.

Watch the full video from the Dairy Women Ireland succession kitchen table talks below: