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A successor has not been identified by 48% of NI farmers surveyed by the UFU and YFCU as part of the development of a land mobility scheme in NI.
Of the farmers that said they had no farm successor identified, 61% said that they had not sought advice or information about succession matters and one in five farmers stated they had "no reason/no good reason" for not creating a succession plan.
The survey was carried out on 442 UFU members. Of those questioned, 85% were over 50 years old, 96% were male and 85% had children.
“The evidence suggests that farmers often rely on familiar short-term mechanisms, such as conacre, and largely overlook better options, such as partnership and long-term lease arrangements,” said UFU president Barclay Bell.
Aging industry
Farmers in NI are also getting older. In 1993, 52% of farmers were over 55 years old and 26% were under 44 years old, where as in 2013 59% were over 55 and 17% were under 44.
YFCU president said that access to land was a reason for the lower percentage of younger people farming in NI. “Our agricultural colleges are full to capacity, so it is clear many young people want a career in farming, but land mobility remains a barrier,” she said.
As for the growing number of older farmers, the survey suggests that a reluctance for older farmers to retire is a factor. Of the farmers with no succession plan, 42.5% said that they did not want to retire from farming with 34% citing the main reason was "to keep fit and active".
One in five farmers who have a successor identified, said that the transfer will happen through a will. Simmons commented that delaying transfer until death can discourage the younger person from investing in the farm.
Retirement plans
However, 36.5% with no succession plans in place said that they do hope to retire. These farmers in particular would be of interest to the land mobility scheme. Overall, 53% of respondents without a succession plan said that they would be interested in a succession service.
Almost half of respondents without a succession plan said that the state pension would be their main source of income in retirement and 77.5% said that they either need or possibly need an income from the farm retirement.
An issue for some farmers can be keeping the farm within the family. However, approximately a third of farmers without a successor stated that this was "neither unimportant nor important" or "not important" to them, regarding the family owning or farming the land or the land staying within the family name.
SHARING OPTIONS: