The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) hosted an event titled: ‘Proud to be an Irish farmer and food producer’ at the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Co. Tipperary, on Wednesday, October 30.
The first of the two sessions at the event focused on farm succession and inheritance and featured a discussion with former IGA president and dairy farmer, Paul Hyland and agricultural solicitor Aisling Meehan.
The well-known agri solicitor who has recently been invited onto the commission on generational renewal and is one of seven people on the commission which is a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) initiative looking at the challenges and policy options to encourage the next generation into farming.
Speaking at the IGA event, she explained that the first meeting of the group will take place next week and said she is “half hoping we will be putting forward a farm retirement scheme [like the one] that was there years ago”.
She advised farmers to: “Keep an eye out for that because certainly I know that they will be looking for feedback from farmers to be able to feed into that report.”
Meehan had an open discussion with Hyland and highlighted some of the common pitfalls that farmers can fall into when developing partnership agreements or a successful succession plan.
She also outlined some of the changes to the agricultural relief which are taking effect from January 1, 2025, and the implications these may have in relation to farm transfers both within families and outside the immediate family.
Time was also allowed for attendees to ask questions on farm succession and inheritance.
Session two featured prof. Thia Hennessy of University College Cork (UCC) who presented some of the key metrics that demonstrate the importance of Irish agriculture in food production, environmental enhancement and rural life.
In addition to this session, the IGA gave those in attendance a factsheet listing important facts on the positive contribution Irish agriculture makes to the Irish economy, environment, and rural life.