Crisis looms for farmers who quit

THE Government has been alerted by a national farming leader to start working at finding futures for tens of thousands who will be pushed out of active farming in the years ahead.

According to IFA leader John Dillon, no one has yet put forward a solution as to where these farmers are going to go and what they are going to do.

Farm consultant Philip Farrelly has predicted that the number of full-time farmers could plummet to 2,000 within five or seven years, following the Fischler Reform of the CAP. He based his analysis on a full decoupling reform, making a much increased scale of production necessary to make farming viable.