The Department of Agriculture has revealed that only 3.8% of farms in Ireland are registered in joint female/male ownership.

While Minister Michael Creed acknowledged that there was an increased awareness of the role women played on farms, the figure shows that women are still given little official recognition for their contribution to farm life.

The latest information from the Department’s database shows that just 13% of farms have a sole female farm holder, while 10% of eligible land and 8% of payments are held by a woman.

This means that of the 4.4m hectares used for agricultural purposes in Ireland, only 440,000ha are owned solely by women.

In July, the Irish Farmers Journal revealed that only 17% of herd numbers were held by women. Therefore, of the 137,939 herd numbers in Ireland, just over 24,000 are held by women.

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