Farmers that avail of a retirement scheme in the future must not be locked out of farming for the rest of their lives, a University of Galway professor has said.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, associate professor Maura Farrell said the mistakes of the last retirement scheme which ran in the early 2000s cannot be repeated.

“The last key area of policy that looked at generational renewal asked farmers to retire from farming forever. We can never have a policy like that again.

“I think when it comes to policies in relation to farmers retiring, you have to consider the social aspect of the retirement as well as handing over the land,” she said.

Farrell referenced research from a colleague, which looked at the attachment older farmers have to land.

“When it comes to handing over the land, it’s not like retiring from here [the Oireachtas] or me retiring from the university.

Psyche

“Retiring from farming is not in the psyche of farmers within an Irish context. You don’t retire from farming because you’re always a farmer.”

Farmers will not take up the scheme, Farrell warned, unless its social implications have been thought through.

“In relation to the attachment to farming, if you don’t consider that, then you will never see those farmers retiring,” she said.

Farrell, who spoke at the committee about women in farming, said the current conversation on generational renewal is targeted at young males and needs to be broadened to consider young women as potential farm successors.

“The idea that the young woman or the young girl can take over that farm just as successfully as the male is a conversation that needs to be had,” she added.

In August, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced his intention to establish a commission on generational renewal. This put the possibility of a retirement scheme in the spotlight.