Why do women currently account for just 13% of the total estimated 130,216 farm holders in Ireland and is it just an issue about gender?
These questions, and many more on the same theme, will feature high on the agenda at the first National Dialogue on Women in Agriculture, which takes place tomorrow (Wednesday, February 1).
The conference, which will be hosted by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, aims to examine “gender issues in farming” and the agri-food sector and explore how the landscape may change in the future.
He has highlighted repeatedly that the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (2023-27) for the first time, includes specific measures “aimed at increasing the participation of women in farming”.
These include:
- An increased grant rate of 60% under the Capital Investment Scheme to fund investments by trained women farmers;
- The promotion of women-only Knowledge Transfer Groups;
- Improved recording and reporting of gender data and the leveraging of the National CAP Network to increase the involvement of all women in the implementation of CAP;
- All CAP interventions will be developed with a gender-aware perspective to ensure there are no inherent barriers to women’s participation.
Farming and gender
According to Minister McConalogue the National Dialogue on Women in Agriculture conference will “be an important opportunity for the sector to engage on gender equality issues in agri-food, with particular attention on farming”.
He also hopes that it will encourage women to share their views on key issues such as “leadership and visibility, education and awareness, sustainability, as well as financial and legal matters”.
The conference tomorrow in Co. Laois will primarily focus on workshops and panel discussions with high profile leaders from the worlds of farming, agri-food and politics contributing to the debate about gender and the future of women and farming.
These will include the former Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, who will chair the event, the former German Minister for Agriculture, Julia Klockner, Glanbia plc chief executive Siobhán Talbot and Ciara Lynch, chairperson of Dairy Women Ireland.
All three ministers from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), including Ministers of State Pippa Hackett and Martin Heydon, will also take part in the conference, which is now fully registered.
Minister Hackett has previously said that as a female farmer she is “acutely aware” of the need for womens’ voices “to be amplified in a sector that is largely dominated by men”.
Feedback and insights from the first National Dialogue on Women in Agriculture will be compiled into a report which will then feed into future government policy.