Young farmer organisation, Macra na Feirme, has said that a potential retirement scheme for the dairy sector, if implemented, must ensure higher numbers of active young farmers.
Discussions are ongoing in the Food Vision Dairy Group regarding the ways in which dairy farmers and the wider agriculture sector can stabilise its emissions profile.
Macra has said: “Brief discussions were had regarding what a potential retirement scheme may look like with no concrete proposals or specific detail around rollout or funding.”
Retirement scheme
The organisation added: “For a number of years, Macra na Feirme has highlighted that a retirement scheme is needed across all the farming sectors to ensure financial security for the farmer who is stepping back, but also that the necessary supports are in place to allow a young person to take on the responsibility of running the farming enterprise.”
The association representing young farmers said that in the event that a retirement scheme is developed and rolled out, it should be adequately funded.
Macra said that it’s important to ensure that the farming business that remains, offers the opportunity for a young person to take on the business, develop it and grow it, in order to provide a viable income and quality of life.
Against the backdrop of food security concerns and projected lower food output across certain parts of the globe, ensuring that land and resources are made available to young people is paramount to ensuring food is produced on Irish farms, according to Macra.
“We currently have about 6% of farmers under the age of 35. In any other sector, be that teachers, nurses, doctors, if only 6% of the workforce were under 35, drastic action would be taken and significant resources invested,” president of Macra Na Feirme, John Keane said.
“Farming should be no different and an entire suite of measures are needed to grow the figure from 6%.”