Experts will analyse family farm decline

Teagasc are organising an academic conference that will examine the past, present and future of the family farm in Ireland, as one of the events to mark the UN Food and Agriculture ‘Year of the Family Farm’.

At the time of the 1971 population census, 25% of all households in Ireland were headed up by a farmer; in 2011, roughly 6% were.

The non-farm population has substantially increased, and the ‘farm households’ statistical category has fallen from 179,000 to 96,000.