Nearly 80% optimistic about the future of farming
The Irish Examiner/ ICMSA survey found despite working long hours and often supplementing their income with off-farm employment, farmers are very happy with their lot and very positive about the future of farming.
The study found 79% were optimistic about the future of farming, with 38% stating they were very optimistic. Just 10% said they were pessimistic.
Similarly, 80% said they were optimistic about the future of farming in their own sector with just 10% expressing pessimism.
Dairy farmers were the most positive with 83% broadly positive about the future, followed by tillage farmers (84%) and livestock/cattle farmers (79%). Those in other types of farming were the least positive about the future of both their sector and farming as a whole.
Whereas in the past, farmers were keen for their children to leave farming, they are now planning to expand, with over 80% intending to keep the farm in direct family ownership.
Some 36% of farmers said they would like to buy or rent in land in the future with 25% stating that this was what they expected to do happen in the next five years. Those in dairy and tillage farming were most keen to expand their farms in the future.
Just 4% said they would like to sell or rent out land, with 2% stating that this was they expected to do in the next five years.
Practically none of the farmers surveyed said they were planning or expecting to leave farming.
Commenting on the findings, Larry Ryan of market research firm, Behaviour and Attitudes, said farming was a buoyant sector of the economy and that this was reflected in the fact that farmers were planning on expanding their operation.
“They are in a very buoyant sector with much improved prices and all advice being to sink money into food stocks. The optimism shown by farmers not just about their sector but about the future of farming was one of the more surprising aspects.”
“I know that, anecdotally, speaking to farmers maybe five or 10 years ago, many of them and particularly spouses were hoping their kids would get out of farming, go to college and get a suit and tie job with a more steady income. That is certainly not the view now, where a large amount of them want their children to take over the farms,” he said.
