Description

Practice abstract

Farming in partnership with a family member has been encouraged in a succession farm partnership by the Irish Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine since 2017. This is to combat the fact that one in three farmers in Ireland are over the normal retirement age (65) and only one in 20 farmers are under the age of 35. The aim is to try to change the apparent reluctance to legally transfer lands to the next generation; it encourages the transfer of farm assets to the next generation, while also providing some security for the transferors by allowing them retain ownership of up to 20% of their farm assets. The initiative allows young farmers to become involved in the farm operations with their parents and integrate into the management of the farm business at an earlier stage. In order for farms to remain competitive, the partnership also provides an opportunity to increase scale, maintain security of labour and improve quality of life through better work–life balance, while also enhancing farm safety. It will also assist in reducing rural isolation and improve the social demographics of Irish farms. The partnership gives younger generations responsibility and decision making powers and is an important step in the development of the young person as a farmer. It provides an ideal transition of the farm business from parent to child. All parties remain involved in the day-to-day running of the enterprise. Responsibilities are shared as agreed in the partnership agreement. As the successor now has a share in the profits, they are incentivised to really get involved, take responsibility and develop the farm business. 

Evan Hunt farms in partnership with his father John in Tobercurry Co. Sligo. They are currently milking 128 cows on 52ha. Evan studied agriculture in Ballyhaise Co Cavan and improved his knowledge on dairy enterprises through placement on dairy farms throughout his studies. Evan and John began their partnership in 2019 and expanded from milking approximately 60 cows to nearly double now. They plan to increase to 140 cows. They did this through investing in the enterprise and making joint decisions on improving the farm enterprise. Farm infrastructure was improved to facilitate the increased number of cows and there was a key focus on improving soil fertility and reseeding to increase pasture growth and utilisation.  

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