A report which is likely to have a significant bearing on the future of a new farm retirement scheme is to be published in a matter of weeks.

Responding to a question from TD Conor McGuinness, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said the report on farm succession will be available “in the coming weeks”.

“The commission is making significant progress and I am expecting a report on policy options in the coming weeks, which will ensure that we have an objective analysis of the issue in advance of preparations for the next CAP,” he said.

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The document is expected to examine the feasibility and potential shape of a new retirement scheme under the next CAP.

The issue of farm succession was also raised under European Commission proposals on the next CAP unveiled this week.

The Commission is considering a requirement that each EU country come up with its own strategy for young farmers for CAP 2028.

Background

Minister Heydon’s predecessor Charlie McConalogue announced his intention to establish a commission on generational renewal at last year’s Tullamore Show.

At Ploughing 2024, McConalogue said he was “very much considering” a farm retirement scheme.

Ahead of last year’s general election, the two main parties currently in Government pledged to return a farm retirement scheme.

There was also support from the Green Party and Independent Ireland, when asked at an Irish Farmers Journal debate.

In early 2025, Minister Heydon had said in an interview with this publication that succession was “one of his key objectives”, but the last retirement scheme had a “very flawed model” in that it required farmers to take a significant step back from farming.