I’ve been meaning to blog about the topic of succession for a while, particularly since we discussed it in an #agchatirl topic a couple of weeks ago. If you remember, I was at a Teagasc conference a few months and one researcher mentioned how she had been speaking to a female farmer aged 19, who was working on the home farm and relief milking for other farmers, yet she knew she hadn’t a hope of inheriting the farm – even [...]
This is the EU Year of the Family Farm. I’ve felt for some time though that there is quite a bit of confusion over what constitutes a family farm and judging by the Teagasc conference I was at last week, I’m not the only one. What do you think it is?
What is a family farm?
To me, a family farm is one in which the farm is able to sustain and support the living expenses of the family if both are [...]
Women in Irish farming, women in politics, women in positions of seniority – it was very much in the public spotlight on days such as Little Christmas / Nollaig na mBan. Some don’t agree with gender quotas or the existence of the glass ceiling – others argue that women are definitely still treated as secondary citizens in many areas.
It’s widely known and recognised (both in academic research circles and [...]
Farmers haven’t always been seen as a good catch. Farming was often be a very isolated occupation, with the farmer living on an isolated farm, eking out a living and caring for an aged parent, usually a mother. The age difference between husband and wife could be a couple of decades in some cases, partly because the man could be in his 40s or 50s before he could afford to marry. His father might have died or die during the [...]
Ireland’s winter has now been going on for almost 12 months – it started last May when we had to rehouse cows at night and with the ridiculously wet summer, it was tough going to keep cows out, cattle were in and out and getting silage cut for the winter was a challenge!
The fact at the moment is that numerous farmers are undergoing severe fodder shortages. Yes, there are farmers, mostly older ones, that weren’t aware the quality of their [...]
