Denis Guiry, Donoughmore, Co Cork.

DEAR SIR: On reading young Charlie Hackett’s letter (on 29 October) I felt compelled to put pen to paper, as this young man has highlighted the worrying fact that young people from farming backgrounds are totally disillusioned at the prospect of pursuing a career in farming.

While it’s very encouraging that a young lad of 13 would read the Irish Farmers Journal at all, it’s very disappointing to see how disillusioned he is due to the negative headlines, which are he says, a constant feature of this publication.

Unfortunately, Charlie is right, but it’s not only the front page that usually carries a glaring negative headline, one would actually be hard pressed to spot any good news story in the entire publication, because unfortunately at the moment practically every sector in Irish farming is going through a very difficult spell.

To Charlie I would like to say (although despite his age I am sure that he is already aware) that farming is a very volatile business, in which there will always be ups and downs.

I am guessing that, because the Irish Farmers Journal is being bought on a weekly basis, his parents are involved in farming someway, and that, possibly, Charlie is hoping to make a living from the family farm in the future. Hopefully, by the time he has to make this decision he won’t be so disillusioned that he will opt for what he sees as a more sustainable career, and steer away from agriculture altogether.

With the age profile in farming (certainly in the dairy sector) currently very high, there are too many people still working extremely hard who are at a stage in their lives where if they had been working in any other “normal “ 9-5 job would have the boots hung up long ago.

But, unfortunately, there are a lot of people in their sixties and seventies who are looking ahead to the daunting prospect of calving down a herd of cows next Spring on their own because a son or daughter simply cannot see a future in following in their parents’ footsteps.

This is a very sad situation not to mention the health and safety implications (how often are we hearing lately of farm accidents involving older people) and must be adding hugely to an already very stressful situation where there is massive uncertainty as to what will happen to the farm when there is no family member there to work it.

I realise that not every farmers’ son or daughter will want to be a farmer, but it is extremely sad that those who do, feel they cannot even contemplate following their heart.

Charlie is 100% correct: we need to see good news headlines and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic and there is an onus on the Irish Farmers Journal to highlight these.

To Charlie I say there will always be challenges in agriculture, but because the young people who are today deciding to pursue a career in farming are highly educated, extremely motivated and are well equipped with all the tools to help their farms as sustainably and efficiently as possible, Irish farming is in good hands and this current generation of young farmers has the wherewithall to overcome the current and future challenges.

I sincerely hope that Charlie will not lose heart, as the future of Irish agriculture is very much depending on him and his generation to keep Ireland’s core business alive.