The age limit of 66 that is associated with female farmers accessing the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been described as “ageist” and there are calls for that limit to now be removed in full.
The Women in Agriculture Stakeholders Group (WASG) is asking Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and his department, to review the decision to set an age limit, and to remove any such restriction.
The European Commission is currently reviewing Ireland’s extensive CAP Strategic Plan, part of which has proposed that an increased TAMS grant of 60% be made available to female farmers aged between 40-66 years’, subject to conditions.
The WASG has previously lobbied the minister on this issue when an earlier iteration of Ireland’s Strategic Plan originally proposed a qualifying age for female farmers of 40-55 in order to avail of the 60% grant.
The result of that lobbying saw Minister McConalogue increase the 55-year age limit to 66, but the WASG said it wants the minister to listen to the WASG once again and remove that limit completely.
“What is key to all of this is ensuring that older female farmers are firstly, acknowledged for the work they have done and secondly, that they get onto a farm partnership and that there are no restrictions to this,” WASG chair, Hannah Quinn-Mulligan told Agriland.
“There shouldn’t be an age limit. We think it is ageist and cuts out a lot of women who are still involved in family farms,” she said.
“The fact remains that less than 1% of the 130,000 farms in Ireland are in an official partnership where a woman is named on it. So any barrier, like the TAMS age limit, needs to be reviewed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM),” she said.
Some other key numbers to consider in this debate:
– Less than 4% of TAMS payments go to women;
– Fewer than 500 women under 35 years of age receive farm payments.;
– Over 90% of the Basic Payment Scheme goes to male farmers;
– Just 3.8% of farms are in joint male/female names.
The WASG chair said that while generational renewal is extremely important – particularly when just 500 women under the age of 35 are currently in receipt of farm payments – so too is ensuring that women who have farmed their whole lives are given recognition and opportunities similar to their male counterparts.
According to Quinn-Mulligan, Ireland is just one of two countries to seek specific supports for female farmers in their CAP Strategic Plans. The Commission, she said, is currently liaising with those countries that failed to do so.
She is of the view that the Commission would react favourably to the removal of any age limit associated with TAMS payments for female farmers in Ireland.
“All the CAP policies that the minister put forward [regarding female farmers] are our policies that we included in our submission [to the Strategic Plan]. And we based those policies on evidence that we unearthed,” she said.
“So we are asking the minister to listen to us again because, so far, we have been right on this.
“Ultimately, this is not about discriminating against women on their age, it is about creating a system that encourages all women to be acknowledged for the work that they do in agriculture.”
In highlighting the need to level the playing field for both male and female farmers in Ireland, Quinn-Mulligan addressed the disparity that will – more than likely – exist in relation to the TAMS grant that will be available under the next CAP.
At 60%, the TAMS grant that is proposed for female farmers is 20% higher than what will be available to male farmers over the age of 40, who will be entitled 40%.
This has received some criticism.
“The charge has been made that it is not equal and it is not fair for men but that charge is only relevant in a situation where there is, already, an equal number of men and women farming,” she said.
“The situation, as it currently stands, is that men vastly outnumber women ‘officially’ farming. The CSO [Central Statistics Office] figures show that there are 70,000 women farming unofficially and 40,000 of those are wives.
“We are asking for a bit extra for women – for now – this is a short-term measure, for one CAP cycle until 2027 and all we are trying to do is level the playing field that is already really imbalanced.”
Agriland has asked the DAFM if the age limit will be reviewed and is awaiting a response.