A previous early retirement scheme for farmers which was aimed at directing funding to young farmers didn’t necessarily achieve the objective, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said.

The minister said the scheme instead funded farmers who were under 65 years of age to leave farming early. He said he is working to ensure supports in the CAP plan are directed at young farmers to enable them to farm instead.

Minister McConalogue said that in a discussion on the issue of generational renewal during his consultation with farmers on the CAP plan, a suggestion for an early retirement scheme was put forward.

He said: “That’s a road I decided ultimately not to go down because when we did it before it was found that actually it didn’t necessarily achieve its key objective, which was directing funding at young farmers to get young farmers in.

“We’ve loads of farmers who are over 65 years of age and already entitled to the pension who are staying.

“Therefore, when we have a certain defined pot, is it best to actually give that to people to retire early or is it better to actually target that to the young farmers we want to encourage?”

No confirmation

The minister made his comments during a discussion on a dairy farmer retirement scheme in the Seanad on Tuesday. Independent Senator Victor Boylan had sought an update from the Minister on the matter.

The Irish Farmers Journal revealed that such a scheme was discussed at a recent meeting of the Food Vision Dairy Forum. Minister McConlaogue did not give a view on the likelihood of such a scheme being developed in the Seanad on Tuesday but instead highlighted his work to date on generational renewal in agriculture.

The minister said that “generational renewal is very much at the centre of our policies in the Department”.

“Generational renewal and ensuring that there is an avenue for the next generation to not only enter the great sector that is agriculture and food and farming but also to flourish in it, is a core element of my [objective] as Minister for Agriculture.”

Pushing people off the land

Senator Boylan said that when it comes to generational renewal in farming, there are “different horses for different courses” and urged that while supporting young farmers to develop a career in the sector is important, Government needs to be sure “we’re not pushing people off the land” and losing the knowledge they have to transfer.

On older farmers, the senator said: “It is their community, it is their language, it is their lifestyle, and we need to understand all of those complexities when we talk about rural communities in agriculture.”