Ó An Roinn Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara
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Dúnadh na haighneachtaí
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Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
Tá comhairliúchán oscailte
The challenge of attracting young people into a career in farming is widely recognised, both at national and EU level. The family farm is the heart of agriculture in Ireland, but with only 7% of farmers under 35 years of age, and over 30% of farmers over 65, it is imperative that facilitating Generational Renewal remains a key priority.
Young people are central to the continuation of a vibrant and sustainable farm sector in Ireland. Supporting young farmers and facilitating generational renewal is critical to ensure a bright future for the agri-food sector. The current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) cites generational renewal as one of its nine key objectives. Under Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, there is substantial investment in supports, and these are complemented by a suite of national measures, including substantial taxation measures.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD, has established a Commission on Generational Renewal in Farming to adopt an objective, evidence-based approach, to examining the factors, legal, economic, social and administrative, that contribute to the current age demographics in the sector, and present policy options for consideration.
The Commission was asked to engage closely with stakeholders. Therefore, we welcome your views on Generational Renewal in Farming and suggest you address the following questions specifically, along with any other comments or suggestions in this regard:
1. What do you feel are the key issues behind the aging farming sector?
2. With just 7% of farmers in Ireland under 35, what can be done to encourage more young people into agriculture?
3. A third of all farmers in Ireland are over 65. What can be done to assist those older farmers to engage with succession and generational renewal?
4. There are a range of supports currently available to support generational renewal, including measures under the current CAP Strategic Plan, a suite of taxation measures, education & training, and access to finance measures (see appendix 1 for a summary).
• What do you think of the current measures for supporting and promoting generational renewal?
• Are there any additional initiatives that could be undertaken, or could the current supports be improved?
Submissions should be sent in writing via e-mail with reference “Public Consultation” to: GenerationalRenewalCommission@agriculture.gov.ie .
All submissions should include a short summary of not more than 300 words setting out the main points therein. Submissions from organisations or groups should include a brief background on the membership, aims and objectives of that organisation or group.
Please note that all submissions received will be available under the Freedom of Information Act and may be published on the Department’s website.
All submissions must be received by 4 pm 31 January 2025. Any submissions received after this deadline will not be taken into consideration.
We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open, and transparent manner. Any person or organisation can make a submission in relation to this consultation. All submissions and feedback will be considered by the Commission.
Please note that all submissions received may be made available under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI) and will be published on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine website.
In responding to this consultation, parties should clearly indicate where their responses contain personal information, commercially sensitive information, or confidential information that they would not wish to be released under FOI or published on the Department’s website.
We would like to draw your attention to the Department Agriculture, Food and the Marine's Data Protection Data Privacy Notice , which is available on our website and explains how and when we collect personal data, why we do so and how we treat this information. It also explains your rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how you can exercise those rights.
• The Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers’ Scheme (CISYF), helps young farmers establish their farming businesses. The CISYF sees 3% of the direct payments ceiling dedicated to providing over €35m per year in funding to eligible young farmers to help offset the cost of establishing their farming businesses. Successful applicants under CISYF can expect to receive payments averaging approximately €170 per hectare, subject to a maximum of 50 hectares per successful applicant, over the five years of the scheme.
• The National Reserve 2023-2027 provides support to two priority categories of Young Farmer and New Farmer. Successful applicants receive an allocation of payment entitlements on land for which they hold no payment entitlements, and/or a top-up to the value of existing entitlements below the national average entitlement value to bring them up to the national average value, subject to an overall allocation of 50 entitlements per successful applicant.
• Under the TAMS capital investment measure, a higher grant rate of 60% for qualified young farmers is available.
• A Collaborative Farming Grant Scheme provides financial support to encourage farmers to form partnerships with young, trained farmers.
• A new Succession Planning Advice Grant provides financial support towards the costs incurred for independent legal and financial advice for older farmers about succession planning.
Nationally, there are strong taxation measures to facilitate succession and assist land mobility.
• Succession and the early transfer of family farms is supported by Agricultural Relief from Capital Acquisitions Tax and Stamp Duty measures (Young Trained Framer and Consanguinity).
• For land mobility, long-term leasing income tax relief supports access to land for young farmers and provides a route to retirement for older farmers.
• Investment is supported by 100% Stock Relief for Young Trained Farmers and 50% Stock Relief for Partnerships.
• The Succession Farm Partnership Scheme provides for a €25,000 tax credit over five years to further assist the transfer of land within a partnership structure to encourage earlier transfer of family farms.
The €500m Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme (GSLS) is a long-term low-cost scheme to support eligible businesses, including farmers and fishers, when investing in their growth and resilience or climate action and environmental sustainability, delivered through the SBCI, with terms of up to 10 years. GSLS is a viable source of finance for young and new entrant farmers, especially the cohort who do not have high levels of security as one of the unique characteristics of the Scheme is that loans up to €500,000 are unsecured.
Education and Knowledge Transfer activities focus on equipping young farmers with the necessary knowledge to build successful agricultural careers. Teagasc is the primary provider of accredited further (vocational) education and training at levels 5 and 6 of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) for the land sector. Teagasc, through its partnership with the higher education sector, also has a substantial input into higher education delivery at NFQ levels 7-10, with a significant presence at PhD level (level 10).
The Teagasc education programme is delivered through its network of seven colleges. Teagasc Part-time and Distance Green Cert education courses are delivered at up to 30 locations across the country. These locations include six agricultural colleges and designated education centres within the 12 Teagasc Advisory Regions and commence and complete on a rolling basis.
Teagasc also run “Transferring the Family Farm Clinics” annually to assist farmers on succession ( Transferring the Family Farm-Teagasc/Agriculture and Food Development Authority and 2024 - Teagasc Transferring the Family Farm Clinics - Teagasc / Agriculture and Food Development Authority ).