A fair income level and access to land were the two needs expressed by a majority of EU young farmers. Access to land was also a priority for Irish respondents, and Macra president James Healy said this showed the need for formal succession policies under public funding schemes such as the Rural Development Programme in the future.

“For the long-term sustainability of a service like the land mobility service, it needs to be supported by something like the Common Agricultural Policy,” Healy said in reference to Macra’s farm transfer initiative of the past three years, which is mostly funded by private sector partners.

Listen to the full interview with James Healy in our podcast below:

While just under 20% of EU young farmers named access to technology as a concern, broadband availability was on the mind of 89% of Irish respondents.

This comes after ESB and Vodafone’s joint venture Siro decided not to tender for the Government’s proposed National Broadband Plan earlier this week.

“One of the three companies tendering for the roll-out of the broadband network in Ireland has pulled out. That would raise some concerns,” Healy said. “Unfortunately, while there is a roll-out of broadband at the moment, it is painfully slow.”

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‘They’ll take me out legs first’ – farm succession in focus

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