The first ever was held on Thursday at the RDS with 7,000 visitors and more than 1,000 jobs on offer.

For this session Jack Kennedy, dairy editor with the Irish Farmers Journal, was joined by three farmers from different sectors to give their experience on farming as a career - good or otherwise.

First up was Julian Hughes, a tillage farmer from Co Kilkenny. He strongly encourages travelling for those looking to forge a successful career in farming: “Get on a plane out of Ireland and go see how other systems work. It’s a scale and volume business and that’s the only way it’s going to go.”

Julian admits he was far from the perfect student and “wasn’t exactly farmer of the year.” It wasn’t until he went to the UK to study for his masters in Crop Protection that he started to take it seriously.

One of the most important skills, Julian believes, is cash flow forecasting, budgeting and cost analysis. He has no financial or accounting experience and for those looking to learn, “the only way is to just get stuck into it,” he adds.

Unusually, Julian doesn’t own any land, which he thinks would be “interesting for some guys. Everybody thinks you have to own land to be a farmer.”

In his experience, this does create a problem in terms of finance because he cannot put up any property as collateral to obtain loans.

Next speaker James Feighry had a more traditional experience. He is a third-generation beef and tillage farmer on family land in Dunboyne, Co Meath.

“We’ve been developing our business as a progressive commercial farm since the early 1970s and there has been a lot of up and downs since then.”

Working on the farm is so much part of how I see myself and my family as well.

He says that although the current climate puts him under a lot of pressure, the history of the farm is an advantage as it “enables them to see a future for the next cycle”.

Growing up a family farm means it has been a way of life for James: “I’ve always done it and I’ve always loved it.

“It’s how I define myself now. I’m a farmer first but more than anything it’s what I talk about most often in my day. It’s what I think about all day long. Working on the farm is so much part of how I see myself and my family as well.”

The third panellist was Kevin Twomey and with two farms, and three sons in the family, he says he was never meant to be a farmer.

Despite this, he changed his parent’s minds and went on to study agricultural science.

It was during his farm placement working on a farm in Co Tipperary that Kevin realised the many ways there are to farm – whether a land owner or not.

“That farmer leased all the land and showed me I didn’t have to own the land to become a farmer,” he said.

Effects of the weather

Kevin also says that anyone can get into dairy farming, whether they are young or people looking to change career.

“You can start anywhere anytime. It’s about understanding where you are on that skill set. Put in some experience and upskill your core skills, but it just takes time to build you momentum.”

In selling farming as a career, the sometimes detrimental impact of the weather cannot be ignored either.

Julian has felt the full weight of the elements on his farm, losing every carrot he had one year due to frost.

If you’re looking for a job, pick up a copy of this week's Irish Farmers Journal There were 1,120 jobs on offer at the Irish Farmers Journal and open eir Agri Careers Fair last week. The jobs wall on display at the event is replicated over seven pages in this week's Irish Country Living supplement.

Not all of these roles have been filled yet so make sure you get in touch with employers straight away: contact details are included in the jobs wall for each.

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Full coverage: Agri Careers Fair