There’s a commission for that!

The media seem to like them and so long as the subject of these gabfests is not urgent, then there’s no harm in these endless roundtable discussions and chats, right? But, sometimes the subject is urgent. So, why then, has the Commission on Generational Renewal in Farming not shown urgency in publishing its findings? At time of print, we were still waiting for these – more than two months after it was expected! 

The issue of generational renewal in farming is an urgent one. The average age of our dairy farmers – our most technical and value-added farmers – is approaching 60. It’s becoming evident across a host of metrics that we desperately need to start seriously resolving the reasons why our next generation are proving so reluctant to come home and take over family farms that have often been in the family for generations.

Dispelling the myth

That’s the very first myth to dispel – the idea that because the farm has been in ‘our’ family for six or seven generations, that John or Mary will feel duty-bound to take it over. John or Mary does not feel bound to ‘go farming’ because their grandparents or great grandparents bought the farm a century ago and it’s just expected of them to keep it going.

The ‘Johns’ and 'Marys’ I meet these days are going to make the decision about their careers on the same basis as all their non-farmer friends. They’re going to look at the likely incomes, the predictability of those incomes, the holidays and time-off, and the hours of work expected and demanded.

On all those metrics, the farming lives that John or Mary is being urged to take up, suffer badly by comparison with competitor sectors and these competitor sectors are now a real option. They are accessible to the children of farm families who can commute daily to the suburbs of Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Dublin where alternative jobs are located. That’s the problem with the expectation that the next generation is going to take over the family farm. 

Too late for 2026

The ICMSA has already said that we think it is concerning as it is perplexing that the Commission on Generational Renewal in Farming has not yet released its findings. Those findings were expected to be published at the end of June, nearly two months ago, and it is now becoming obvious that whatever recommendations are brought forward from the commission’s deliberations, are unlikely to be incorporated into Budget 2026. That’s a year lost that we can’t really afford to lose if we are serious about this question of generational renewal – and we very definitely should be serious about it. Some years ago, the ICMSA set up a young farmer forum to hear firsthand the main obstacles the participants identified as blocking their entry into farming. A majority of the young farmers listed ‘financial uncertainty’ as the main obstacle.

Priority

The ICMSA is very aware that not everything can – or even should – be done in one fell swoop. We are 75 years at this, and we know how it works. But we think it’s imperative that a start be made to address the question of extreme farm income volatility and we topped our list of submissions to the commission with an appeal to see Budget 2026 introduce a scheme to deal specifically with the excessive income volatility that is putting off so many young people from considering a career in farming. There was a commitment made last year to look at this. The report published recently by the Tax Strategy Group was unfair and inaccurate and the ICMSA continues to lobby that the forthcoming budget will address the most obvious obstacle to generational renewal. If we are not ready or willing to look at the most obvious obstacle – as verified by the young farmers themselves – then what was the point of the Commission at all? These kinds of problems don’t fix themselves and if you’re not honest about the real nature of the problem, then we don’t think you have a hope of coming up with a workable answer.