Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has been called on to deliver a three-year plan with implementation timelines for succession measures in Ireland by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA).

ICMSA’s farm business chair Pat O’Brien said this plan must be an absolute priority to indicate how the sector is going to deal “with the single biggest obstacle to generational renewal: excessive and potentially ruinous income volatility”.

He said volatility disallows farmers putting away money in ‘good’ years that can be drawn down in ‘bad’ years.

ADVERTISEMENT

Way of life

O’Brien said that the myth that farming was a way of life is not going to cut it with a generation who were going to opt for a career, farming or other, based on income and free time in a way that previous generations would have found difficult to understand.

Obviously, farming is a great way of life and no doubt about it, he said, but it needs to deliver an income on a consistent basis in line with other sectors of the economy.

“That’s the central problem and where we see the kinds of fall/fluctuations in income that we’re experiencing right now, then it becomes harder to convince young people to consider an occupation in farming where they can see their margins and income wiped out over the space of three months because of factors actually beyond their control”, he said.

Over-regulation

He also said that there is “massive over-regulation and administrative complexity that is bordering on overwhelming so many farmers”.

“The young people see their parents tied-up in knots trying to deal with the regulations governing farming and then see the kind of incomes to be made working in other sectors without any of these additional challenges and burdens – and they are just voting with their feet and labour. They are picking the perceived easier option,” he said.