A total of 71 applications have been received under the current tranche of the Succession Planning Advice Grant, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said.
The scheme provides payments of up to €1,500 to help farmers aged 60 years and above to seek succession advice, covering up to 50% of vouched legal, accounting and advisory costs.
Applications may be submitted all year round, but payments will be made in tranches. Tranche 1 payments will be made to qualifying applicants in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.
Payments will issue in Q1 of the following year after application up until 2027. Farmers may qualify for this grant if they are:
- Aged 60 years and above who is currently not in a succession partnership;
- Farming at least a minimum of 3ha of land at the time of the application;
- Farming for a minimum of 2 years prior to application.
The terms and conditions of the succession scheme can be found on the DAFM website, including details of eligible expenses and documents required for application.
The scheme to encourage farm succession was announced by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue in August last year.
Succession
Succession planning remains a “major stumbling block” for farmers, with 48% of farm families yet to identify a successor, recent findings in Ifac’s Irish Farm Report 2024 show.
Farm viability poses the biggest obstacle to succession planning, followed by a lack of interest from the next generation. Farmers also said the farming lifestyle does not appeal to the next generation.
While every succession planning process will look different, one of the first steps is always to identify the successor, and, more importantly, the type of successor, Ifac said.
A willing successor is someone who is willing and able to take on the farm, however, there can be many reasons why a successor is reluctant to take over, the report states.