Farming labour force has been in decline for decades — time to reverse this trend
For decades, the agricultural labour force has been in decline in Ireland, as in most developing economies.
Our 1951 census showed 84,657 agricultural labourers, and 140,175 relatives, assisting the 199,805 farmers.
In contrast, the Central Statistics Office’s 2016 Farm Structure Survey estimated the modern farming labour force at 160,700 annual work units (each equivalent to 1,800 hours or more of labour input per annum).
It’s time to call a halt to the decline, with 6,000 extra people needed by 2025, due mainly to the dramatic increase in dairy farming activity since EU milk quotas were abolished in 2015.
The size of the dairy herds increased dramatically (see accompanying graphic), and this happened predominantly on larger farms.
Only 17% of dairy cows were in herds of over 100 cows in 2007.
By 2016, 47% of an increased national herd were in herds of larger than 100 cows, resulting in a dramatic increase in the requirement for employed labour, both part-time and full-time, on Irish farms.
It is projected that more than 6,000 extra people will be needed on dairy farms by 2025, if the dairy sector is to achieve its growth targets. Of these, about 4,000 will be new farm owners/managers, and about 2,000 will be employees.
With relatively full employment in the Irish economy (the unemployment rate has dropped below 6% for the first time since 2008), there is a challenge to make careers in the dairy sector attractive to young people.
Some actions to solve this are described in the People in Dairy Action Plan launched recently by a stakeholder group established by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Finding dairy workers in Ireland was high on the agenda at the recent Teagasc International Agricultural Workforce Conference in Cork, where the attendance included a large gathering of young, progressive dairy farmers.
A major issue highlighted was the farmer-employer’s need for better personnel management skills.
For a couple of generations, farmers have not employed people on a significant scale. Now, it is projected that larger scale dairy farmers will need highly skilled workers.
These workers will have their own ambitions, and will need to be self-directed and self-motivated.
Skills in management and planning of these workers may therefore become as important for dairy farmers as skills in grassland management and cow care.
New Zealand experience
The dairy industry in New Zealand has also experienced dramatic changes, outlined at the conference by Callum Eastwood from Dairy NZ.
They have 5m cows, up 70% since 1995, with a 45% increase in the land area devoted to dairying.
Their average herd size is now 420 cows, while the total number of dairy herds has fallen from 14,000 to 12,000 since 1995.
There has been a particularly dramatic expansion on South Island, while production in some traditional areas such as Taranaki has been static.
The New Zealand farming sector now employs 33,000 people, many of them immigrants.
Many of the pressures on their industry are similar to those in Ireland, such as milk price volatility; compliance with minimum wage, animal welfare and health and safety regulations; and pressure from the environmental lobby. A New Zealand pressure not widely experienced here is the extent of debt, and the cost of servicing it.
Despite its rapid growth, the New Zealand dairy sector is not seen as providing attractive careers, particularly to the new generation of native-born New Zealanders. They place a premium on living in towns and cities, and on social interaction and work flexibility. There is therefore a heavy dependence in their dairy sector on immigrant labourers. By far their largest source of immigrant labour is the Philippines, at 54% of the total.
Despite dependence on relatively unskilled immigrant labour, efficiency in the New Zealand industry has continued to improve, with cows handled per full time worker increasing from about 100 in 1995 to about 145 in recent years.
This was facilitated by use of automated technologies. For example, automated teat spraying was used by just over 30% of farmers with rotary parlours in 2008, but was used by 70% of these farmers in 2018.
There is now a heavy emphasis on people management, to make careers in the New Zealand dairy sector more attractive. There is an emphasis on minimising the drudgery, and creating career paths in an industry where people can learn and grow, an industry with community values and pride in the sector.
As in other countries, there is an acceptance that while wages are important, there are many other considerations in hiring and retaining labour, including reducing long working hours, creating a predictable work environment with defined times off, and a career path.
People in Dairy Action Plan
Many of the same considerations will apply in Ireland if the industry continues to grow. A Teagasc study group in recent times estimated that, by 2025, there will be 15,426 farmers milking 1.6m dairy cows, with an average herd size of 104 (up from 87 in 2016). There will be an estimated 448 farm managers, 298 herd managers, and 6,700 farm assistants (of whom 5,300 would be part-time).
To meet these demands, an extra 2,300 employees will be required to work on large scale farms, and an extra 3,900 future farmers will replace those who retire. An action plan has been prepared to ensure that these targets can be achieved (the People in Dairy Action Plan, published in June, 2018).
