Land transfer a challenge: top farmer

The availability of land and the “sensible transfer” of farms from one generation to another is one of the major challenges facing the country’s young farmers, Macra na Feirme’s Young Farmer of the Year said yesterday.

For the past three years, 27-year-old John Buckley, from Bantry, Co Cork, has managed 156 dairy cows in partnership with his parents. Some of the milk produced by the Buckleys on their West Cork land goes to Glenilen Farm and Durrus Farmhouse Cheese.

“The whole thing was done properly with a legal agreement that went through the proper channels,” said John. “My father isn’t 60 yet so he’s still young, but he wanted to give me that first step onto the ladder.

“I think land transfer needs to be mindful of the older generation, but there needs to be a framework in place to encourage them to transfer land and responsibility to the next generation.”

John is one of the new crop who believe farming must be viewed as a business like any other, a business where costs have to be monitored, growth targets set, and where one eye is always on the profit margin.

At the moment, John’s focus is “building equity in the stock”.

“From a disease prevention point of view, I’d like to grow the herd from within,” he said. “I see the cattle as like cash in the bank. I plan to expand the herd and possibly look at having a second dairy farm.”

The location of that farm does not trouble him. Farming, for John, is not about geography.

“I’ll see where the opportunities come,” said John, who described his FBD Young Farmer of the Year crown as a “huge shock” as “the standard was so high”.

“I think I was brought up in a progressive environment,” said John. “My father Corney was always open to new opportunities and unlike some in the older generation, he has no fear of technology.”

John holds a higher certificate in agricultural science. He is married to Marguerite, from Ballinascarthy, a nurse who works in Cork City. They met at a Macra na Feirme event and married last year.

His family were one of a number of farmers who held a dairy farm in the UK. He says working in the UK taught him much about farm development and animal husbandry. He also spent eight months working in New Zealand where, as a manager of a 1,200-strong herd, he learnt much about scale.

Esther Walsh from Lismore, Co Waterford, came second in the Young Farmer competition. The 34-year-old dairy farmer was the only woman in the final.