Teagasc has said that policy changes must align with farmers' values and identity.

The research and advisory agency was speaking on a panel discussion during a 'Collaborating for Impact' event about agri-food innovation.

Speaking to a panel, European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union Mairead McGuinness asked how the changing of objectives in the last few decades will affect older farmers.

“I’m old enough to remember my late father watching Telefís Feirme with a notebook and pen. Then, we were advising people to rip out hedgerows and use lots of fertiliser,” she said.

“But that was policy then and how do we help older farmers - and there’s a lot of them - who are quite challenged and depressed that they did lots of stuff that they thought was the right thing?

“We need to reengage. How do we make that process less traumatic for farm families?”

Identity

The most recent census found that the average age of a farm holder in Ireland is 57, which means older farmers make up a large proportion of Ireland’s agricultural landscape.

Responding to the question, Teagasc research officer David Meredith said the problems for farmers is a "question of identity".

“Because in the past, we wanted food, we want you to produce food and we’ll pay you to do that. So the more you produce, the better you are. That was a very simple system and simple message that a farmer could identify with,” he said.

“We’ve changed the system now by where we’re paying for other things; we’re paying for welfare, water quality, other aspects that are a cost to farmers in terms of improving standards but also in terms practices; do thing differently. That can be really challenging.

“The challenge is to ensure that we’re developing policy that can align with farmers' values and identity.”