Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    A neural network model of Irish farmers perceptions of land mobility
    Land has always been one of the most important and controversial assets in Ireland and land mobility continues to be a critical issue to the future success of the Irish agricultural sector (FH2020). The Irish agricultural sector is still portrayed by a low level of land mobility and late transfer pattern with small farms and an older farming population. Policies and schemes applied to the agricultural sector to improve land mobility situation appear to be failing to have the desired effect. The overall objective of this study is to assess the present situation and identify potential solutions that could improve land mobility and smooth land transfer in the Irish agricultural sector as perceived by the Irish farmer.
      138
  • Publication
    The Field: Land mobility measures as seen through the eyes of Irish farmers
    Irelands agriculture is characterised by an ageing farmer population and small average farm sizes. Past policy schemes developed to address these issues have been targeted at accelerating succession and retirement processes in agriculture. Their success however was limited. The process of succession, inheritance and retirement is complex and the decision-making of farm families in these situations is influenced by many factors. In order to develop more successful policies to encourage the early transfer of land and to increase farm sizes a better understanding of these factors is necessary. The paper addresses this question by employing a Neural Network Analysis with data collected through a survey of Irish farmers perception on succession and land mobility measures in 2012. The analysis shows that while many farmers in general are in favour of various land mobility measures, they would not consider taking advantage of any of them, which in part could be explained by a large number of farmers being unwilling to totally retire from farming.
      1435
  • Publication
    Retirement farming or sustainable growth – land transfer choices for farmers without a successor
    Ireland’s agriculture is characterised by an ageing farmer population and small average farm sizes. These structural issues are shared by a number of European countries and have been identified as barriers to sustainable growth in the sector. While farms with an identified successor usually enter a path of expansion and growth, farms without a successor at some point follow a route of winding down and extensification. Such retirement farming could potentially become an issue for food security and sustainable land use. Understanding the retirement decisions of farmers without a successor is key to address this issue. To this end a survey was conducted with Irish farmers including questions surrounding succession and retirement. About half of the surveyed farmers did not have a successor and two thirds of those did not intend to fully retire from active farming in the future. A logistic regression analysis of the collected data showed that placing a high value on family tradition in farming and only receiving a state pension had a negative effect on the intention to retire, while being aware of changing pension ages had a positive effect. A follow up qualitative study explored the perceptions of farmers without a successor regarding various land transfer options. The participants mainly anticipated negative consequences arising from selling the farm and full retirement such as the loss of land and the end of the farming activity. Other options such as the long-term leasing of part of the land or entering into a partnership with a younger farmer were regarded as having more positive consequences. These included a lowering of the workload, allowing a continuing involvement in farm work, and the ability to be able to stay on the farm.
      722Scopus© Citations 56