One in three farmers don’t know if they have enough cashflow to pay the bills for the next six months, the Irish Farm Report 2024 by Ifac published today (Thursday, January 18), has found.
Irish farmers are facing another year of uncertainty with input prices, succession planning, nitrates, and the weather all weighing heavily on their minds, Ifac said.
Input prices remain the biggest concern for a total of 66% of farmers, findings from Ifac’s annual farmer survey containing the views of 1,048 Irish farmers show.
The number of farmers who plan to be farming in five years’ time has steadily declined over the past four years, with the figure now 16% below 2021 levels, Ifac said.
In total 34% of tillage farmers are unsure whether they will still be farming in five years, while 11% said they will not be farming. This is significantly higher than in previous years.
The number of beef and dairy farmers who are unsure about their future also increased to 31% and 21% respectively. Overall, 46% of respondents have a positive outlook on farming.
Farmers’ concerns
Succession planning remains a “major stumbling block” for farmers, with 48% of farm families yet to identify a successor. This is an improvement on the previous year when the figure stood at 69%.
However, 94% of farmers still believe there are significant challenges for succession planning, with one in four farmers responding to the survey naming viability as the biggest obstacle.
Impacts of the weather have been cited as a key concern by over half of farmers, which represents an increase of 28% on the previous report in 2023.
Adverse weather conditions and the impact they had on profitability caused “real concerns” in 2023, particularly in tillage with 74% of farmers being concerned about the weather.
Employment issues and the struggle to find available farm employees was also highlighted with 30% of surveyed farmers saying they will not have enough staff throughout 2024.
Four in five of those employing family members on their farms (sole traders) are not aware of the difference in benefits of the Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) classes.
Thus, farmers are unknowingly preventing their family members from benefiting from the Class A advantages, according to Ifac’s Irish Farm Report 2024.
Ifac report
Farmers remain committed to taking on projects that benefit the environment with 41% saying they would lease land to a solar or wind project if the opportunity arose.
However, Ifac’s latest report found that 48% of respondents consider financial investment/return as the biggest barrier to considering renewable diversification on farms.
Other key findings include:
- One in four farmers do not prepare budgets or forecasts;
- A quarter of farmers claimed planned farm expenditure was affected by delays in Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS 3) approval;
- 90% do not understand the Fair Deal Scheme;
- One in two farmers have no will in place, leaving potential beneficiaries exposed to tax issues;
- One in three farmers have no pension in place;
- One in four farmers do not have or do not know if they have sufficient life cover (excluding that required for a mortgage);
- Nearly one fifth say there is a lack of interest from the next generation in the farming lifestyle.
Many farmers are concerned about the things they cannot control, but there are opportunities for many to ease some of their worries about the future, Ifac chief executive, John Donoghue said.
He stressed the importance of getting the right financial advice about succession, putting a will, sufficient life cover, and a pension in place, and preparing budgets and managing cashflow.
“Also this year, the reduced nitrogen limits on Irish dairy farms to protect water quality and the environment are likely to have far-reaching income effects for Irish dairy farmers.
“Regardless of the route they take, these farmers need to assess their circumstances and develop a plan that will help them to achieve the environmental objectives and their business objectives,” he said.
The majority of survey respondents are male at 87% and 13% female. The sector with the strongest representation is beef at 42%, followed by dairy at 39%.
In total 13% of the participating farmers are aged over 65 years, 37% are aged between 51-64 years, 39% are aged between 35-50 years, and 11% are aged between 18-34.