The conveyor belt of young farmers looking to go into partnerships and to take on long-term leases has slowed down, Austin Finn, head of the Land Mobility Service has warned.

The Land Mobility Service has been providing a ‘match- making’ service for landowners and young farmers since 2015. It has facilitated partnerships between farmers who are looking to take a step back and young farmers looking to get into farming as well as existing farmers who are looking to expand.

Demand from young farmers has been brisk since the Land Mobility Service was set up in 2015, Finn said.

He said that following the abolition of quotas in 2015, there was strong demand in 2016, 2017 and 2018 from young farmers looking to lease farms. However, the conveyor belt of young farmers looking to get into partnerships or 10-year leases has slowed down since then as the narrative around farming shifted from increasing food production to reducing production.

Nitrates derogation

While there are still plenty of young people interested, the increased uncertainties, particularly with the nitrates derogation, are putting them off, Finn added.

Currently, the supply of landowners wanting to lease their land is matching the demand from younger farmers or farmers looking to expand.

However, Finn said that going forward, the service will witness more supply than demand in the not too distant future.“The conveyor belt of younger people interested in making a living from farming is slowing down.

“While the younger people are there, they’re choosing to do other things. It’s important that farming is made enticing for them to get involved,” he explained.

On the supply side, Finn said that a lot of landowners had been holding off on leasing land over the last year in anticipation of a cull cow scheme. But with that being ruled out by Government, more land is coming on stream now again, particularly in the last month or so, Finn explained.

A number of farmers have simply made the decision that they don’t want to do another season, he said.

From Finn’s experience of matching farmers together, the “perfect marriage” is where you’ve a landowner looking to retire and a young farmer coming in who may not be in line for a share of the home farm.

On a yearly basis, the Land Mobility Service receives 800 enquiries, of which 600 turn into actual good enquiries.

There would be between 300 and 400 engagements in total - split evenly between landowners and young farmers, resulting in 60 arrangements or partnerships per year. Finn said that the number of arrangements made this year is slightly up on last year.