ICMSA warns on ‘erratic nature’ of farm incomes

TANÁISTE and minister for finance Simon Harris and minister for public expenditure Jack Chambers have been warned by farming bodies that the ‘wildly erratic and unpredictable nature’ of farm incomes is contributing to a looming succession crisis across the country.

At a meeting last week, just six weeks out from Budget 2027, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan told the ministers that unless meaningful measures were introduced to help farmers plan for the future, the next generation would “vote with their feet” and pursue alternative careers.

“We know that the sons and daughters of farm families are just not willing to uproot their families and leave paid employment in pharma, finance or other sectors to go back and take over the family farm.

“They’ll end up working twice as long without any of the work-related benefits and could then see after a whole year’s work that they’ve actually made less than the minimum wage or even lost money ‒ as our dairy farmer members have in the year from September 2025 to now,” Mr Drennan said.

“They won’t do it anymore,” Mr Drennan said. “And realistically, why would they? We have to introduce some degree of predictability into farm incomes through a farm deposit scheme and we have put forward several versions of such a scheme to show the departments concerned that this is both feasible and necessary,” he added.

Mr Drennan cited a deposit scheme introduced in Australia, similar to the one the ICMSA recommended to the Department of Agriculture, which, he said, has had the desired effect.

The Australian scheme allows eligible producers to set aside pre-tax income during prosperous years, which they can draw upon in future years when income is less predictable.