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NEARLY TWO-FIFTHS of farm holders are over the age of 65, with under-35s making up only a small proportion of the sector.
The average age of farm holders is 59.4. Over 50,000 of Ireland’s farm holders (37.8%) are aged 65 or over, whereas only 6,000 (4.3%) are under 35.
That’s according to new data released by the Central Statistics Office about farms and farmers in Ireland as of 2023.
“The Farm Structure Survey provides a comprehensive snapshot of the agricultural activity on Irish farms in 2023,” said Sophie Emerson, statistician in the CSO’s agriculture division.
“The results provide detail on farm structure, farm holder demographics, livestock, land utilisation, organic farming, the agriculture labour force, standard output, farm machinery and soil management.”
There is still a large gender gap among farmers, the CSO data shows.
87% of farm holders in 2023 were men while only 13% were women. Of 299,725 farm workers, 66% were men while 34% were women.
In total, there were 133,174 farms recorded in 2023. The average size was 34.7 hectares.
The number of cattle in Ireland has risen to 7.3 million, representing a 6.4% increase from 2013 to 2023. However, the number of farms with cattle actually fell by 7.9% over the same period, which means the rise in cattle numbers is due to other farms increasing their herds.
The average herd size increased from 62 animals to 72 animals (a 16.1% jump) since 2013. The average herd size for dairy cows in particular has increased significantly from 64 animals to 98 animals (a 53.1% increase).
Sheep, pig and poultry numbers have also increased.
The rising herd numbers could pose a challenge for the agriculture sector meeting its climate action targets.
Agriculture was directly responsible for 37% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, mainly through methane from livestock and nitrous oxide from fertilisers and manure management.
Organic farming, which is usually good for the environment, is on the rise; in 2023, there were 4,168 organic farms, a significant increase compared with 2020 when there were only 1,686.
However, only 5% of farms reported having a renewable energy source present on the farm.
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‘Large gender gap’. Obviously because men are more likely to work on a farm than a woman. Women farmers obviously exist and are well able, but if you were to do a survey on girls in school on what they would like as their profession, I can’t imagine farmer being too high. Even for girls who grew up on a family farm. School boys who grew up and work on the farm, it would be a different story.
@Maximilian Kolbe: That’s a big assumption. Many women would have liked to farm but found that the land was automatically, and unfairly, handed to a brother.
@Brendan O’Brien: you’d argue wirh anything
@Paul Hackett: s’funny Paul…..but I see a lot of similarities between the brenny accounts & Mrs Mc Carthy, she’d try & argue with the wind too, lol.
@Brendan O’Brien: The last section of this article (which I can’t copy and paste) gives a woman’s account of how she feels she was unfairly passed over for the family farm, which went to a brother instead.
@Paul Hackett: even with his own shadow.
@Brendan O’Brien: one thing about wills is there’s always someone who feels they didn’t get a fair slice ‘of the cake’, how any person ( male/ female) decides how their ‘estate’ is divided up is a deeply personal choice/ children ( once reared/ educated) have no ‘automatic ‘ right to a ‘slice’
@Brendan O’Brien: source of that first comment?
@Maximilian Kolbe: Ireland’s history
@Maximilian Kolbe: See this research by the Scottish Government, for example (Ireland won’t be much different).
Can you give a source for yours?
https://www.gov.scot/publications/women-farming-agriculture-sector/pages/13/
@Maximilian Kolbe: See especially ‘Some men suggested that some women select themselves out of careers in farming, whereas women spoke explicitly about male favouritism being the main factor for this.’
@Brendan O’Brien: That is just a woman who is pis*ed off that the father gave the farm to the offspring who actually helped on the farm, whereas she is only complaining because she didn’t inherit so she could then sell it straight away for easy cash. Father obviously knew that.
@Maximilian Kolbe: There is no way that you can rationally infer that from what she said.
And the Scottish research?
And a source to support your original comment?
@Paul Hackett: I think he argues with himself!
@Brendan O’Brien: Women are less entrepreneurial than men, a farm is a business.
@Maximilian Kolbe: men are over twice as likely to have a business than a woman. Men are far less risk averse than women. Men participate in gambling at a far higher rate, 90% of billionaires are men. Any self made billionaire had to take risks in the come-up to being one. 83% of patent holders are men. You can check any of these statistics on the internet.
@Frank Mc Carthy: Wills now are regularly challenged in the courts successfully in Ireland last few years, just Google cases. They aren’t as copper fastened as you might think and if a sibling or spouse can show they have indeed been unfairly left out they can get their finger back into the pie
The first generation work their behinds off building up the farm, the next generation consolidate and expand. The third generation sell up. Land is making up to 17k an acre in some areas and who could blame them..
@Jamie Hinch: too many fingers in the pie by the third generation, farm divided up and sold or hobby farmed with an off farm job
@P. V. Aglue: The biggest fear in elderly farmers is a marriage breakup for their inheritor resulting in land being sold to finance the other half..
@Jamie Hinch: yes ..much better to live alone ….farmers not interested in female’s might loose some road frontage
@David Cotter: There are some successful female farmers out there who are well able if they got a chance..
Shor who’d bid on my field
@John Kenny: the bull McCabe.
@John Kenny: outsider’s!
@John Kenny: therz no yanks will grown a crop in my field. Shamie.
Having land in rural Ireland gives a person social standing, might be the reason an elderly farmer won’t pass it on or sell it!
The auld farmer syndrome alive and well in Ireland, they can be a greedy lot when it comes to land I say.
@Ned: would you like to spell out an alternative to farming, land inheritance, future proofing food production and land use. Who’s going to do it? Easy work to throw shade via a phone and buy your packaged food from a shop.
“One acre, One vote, One share”
The time has come for the agricultural sector to move away from a family based run structure to an industrial/corporate based one.
Does that destroy the rural way of life, absolutely!
Profit maximization
Retire early, run a bnb
Rodges asssult on the abused survivors a bit worse than a clipboard in fairness.
Slow hand clap for the thirds who elected him back in.
have your say