A joint Oireachtas committee has heard that only one in three farms in the European Union (EU) is managed by a woman and only one in 50 farms is managed by a young woman.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food, chaired by cathaoirleach Aindrias Moynihan, hosted the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Agriculture, named “Securing the future of farming, from policy to practice”, at Dublin Castle on Monday.
Esther de Lange a European Commission official, told the committee: “On paper, farming is still very much a man’s world.”
She said there are a number of challenges that may discourage new men and women entrants from agriculture, including high entry costs, barriers to land, limited mobility and slow succession.
She said that, in the EU, only 11 to 12 per cent of farmers are under the age of 40, adding that Ireland is slightly above the EU figure, with 13.6 per cent of farmers below the age of 40.
“At the same time, one in three European farmers will soon retire. And that shows you that the time to act … is now,” de Lange said.
She said funding alone is “not enough,” adding that young farmers need practical support as well. “So the young farmers’ starter pack” – a European grant scheme – “will combine establishment aids, investment support and advisory services.”
‘Concerning picture of a sector’
Moynihan told the committee that only one per cent of EU farmers were below the age of 25 in 2023.
“The figures, they paint a concerning picture of a sector in which the number of young farmers is continuing to decline,” he said.
“We need to examine ways to make farming a viable and attractive employment option and a choice for young people, especially women farmers.”
Moynihan said women manage around 32 per cent of farms in the EU as of 2023, with 37 per cent over the age of 65 and 26 per cent under the age of 40. He also said that young women represent just three per cent of farm managers.
He said a degree of urgency on gender balances was required and that these challenges are addressed “across several policies within the European Union”, including Cap, the Common Agricultural Policy..
He said the current Cap includes “specific ringfenced funding” of €8.5 billion to provide “income supports, start up aids, investment supports and advisory services to young farmers”.
“If we do not make substantive efforts to address ongoing challenges and provide appropriate supports, Europe’s food security is at risk, particularly in the face of ongoing geopolitical, energy, climate and migratory challenges,” he said.
Another panellist, Maria Walsh, a Fine Gael MEP and member of the EU Parliament’s agricultural committee, said even though almost one-third of EU farms are managed by women, “because Cap payments are calculated, mostly per hectare and women have less land, they receive only, from my stats, less than 15 per cent of the income support.”
“The current Cap recognises gender equality as a social objective but, in practice, that recognition has stayed largely aspirational.”
In May, she started her own draft report on generation renewal and has tabled four amendments to the commission’s Cap proposal for between2028 to 2034.
The amendments call for 10 per cent of the entire Cap budget to be ringfenced for generational renewal, mandatory young farmer starter packs in every national plan with a dedicated chapter to support women, a clear legal definition of an active farmer and “incentives, rather than penalties, to encourage timely and dignified farm succession paired with secure pension arrangements for those stepping back”.
She added: “You cannot deliver generation renewal or gender equality in agriculture on a shrinking budget.”