Future in farming

Anthony16

Anyone out there have an idea if the future looks bright or bleak for farming.I know the price of milk is about 19c a litre down here in kerry which is downright disgraceful.The reason i ask this is because i have the option of going into farming over third level education.My uncle has a big enough farm(100 plus cattle) and i will probably have the option of taking it over when hes finished.Sorry for my lack of knowledge about it in general,but im just curious as iv always liked the outdoor work.
Any advice is greatly appreciated

marizpan

I think it will become a good industry again, but not for another 10yrs+

The reasons i think this are:

• Oil prices will make imports less competitive, so the homemarket should grow
• Oil prices will make farming very expensive, from this i think it will cause a farming revolution of sorts. Farming will have to get less oil dependant.

Example:Instead of grains, sweet chestnut plantations.You can graze underneth during the summer. Little work. Many uses;flour, animal feed etc. Similiar makeup to rice. Very little labour needed or oil/chemicals required.

whelan1

i would do the college course and see then if you are still interested in farming at least it would be something to fall back on

agcons

I think this is a no brainer. Get your education now and get as much of it as you possibly can. The farm will still be there in a few years time and in all probability cattle production will still be a hobby enterprise at that stage. I can guarantee you he isnt making a weeks wages out of a 100 cattle enterprise and if you go with him you will be little more than an endentured servant. You can always help the uncle at weekends, holidays etc. and work out a plan for a gradual change of ownership/management over the years. Do you even know if you like cattle farming? the two of you need to have a serious discussion about the whole set up and his longterm plans as well as yours.
PS the college course doesnt have to be farming related, do whatever you are seriously interested in, you can always do short term ag courses after

yessam

It is very hard to know what the future in farming will be in the long term, but in the short term we are for a tough couple of years. My advice to you would be to do your third level education now and do your best at it. You definitely will not go back at it in the future. (I know). Try and be around the farm when ever possible, especially when the big jobs are on. If you could do college locally, that would ib ideal.
If you are going to inherit the farm and stock before you are 35, be sure and get your green cert course complete before the final transfers are made. I done this course with Teagasc on a part time basis of 1 day and 1 night per week. The cert saved me a lot of stamp duty and inheritance tax. Good luck, but remember more and more farms are becoming part time.

MrPint

hello all,
I think there is a future in farming as long as you stay away from the gov shackle schemes such as reps, seps etc etc. Dont get tied up and locked into and depentant on 1 source of revenue. by all means concentrate on 1 but keep your fingers in many honey pots. Try to market your products locally or from your farm , this will put more cash in your pocket rather than every other feckers. Increase the value of your product( ie. milk =cheese, butter etc). Stay away from big bulk buyers if they get the grips of you they will f**k you eventually and bully you into submission. Watch the IFA, They are in the GOV's pocket and dont really care about small to medium farmers (only for the subs of course).

My opinion only and yes I am bitter. have ya seen where farming has gone ion the last years. Just as k what was introduced, by whom and see the outcome.

All the best
MrPint

PS: ya have to enjoy hard long hours working:D, but ya cant beat that satisfied feeling at the day.

maidhc

There is a future, but only in large scale enterprises. I think we will see a lot more partnerships and shared farming initiatives.

Farmers need to become more like businessmen and stop going on about the way of life and how "they would do nothing else". I think shared farming in particular will become key to allowing people to scale up without spending millions on conacre. A little bit more on it here: http://www.teagasc.ie/newsletters/2009/tillage-200912/

I think new markets need to be found too, but with large scale farms it will be easier to source these markets. I was at the conference refered to in the above link, and one the truest observations made was that "there is no such thing as a family farm anymore". What you have are one man farms, and these are simply inefficient and not socially sustainable.

It isn't the government are wrong, but farmer's mentalities are holding them back, and the IFA are doing a dis-service to farmers by keeping alive the hope that there is a future for any of these small/medium farms.

vincenzolorenzo

agcons wrote: »

I think this is a no brainer. Get your education now and get as much of it as you possibly can. The farm will still be there in a few years time and in all probability cattle production will still be a hobby enterprise at that stage. I can guarantee you he isnt making a weeks wages out of a 100 cattle enterprise and if you go with him you will be little more than an endentured servant. You can always help the uncle at weekends, holidays etc. and work out a plan for a gradual change of ownership/management over the years. Do you even know if you like cattle farming? the two of you need to have a serious discussion about the whole set up and his longterm plans as well as yours.
PS the college course doesnt have to be farming related, do whatever you are seriously interested in, you can always do short term ag courses after

Take agcons advice. Having a degree to fall back on could prove very beneficial.

padocon

Vertical Farming is the future. The population of the word is growing.
Vertical farming increases land by 10 times Eg 100 Achers = 1,000.
How else will we feed the population!

dar31

maidhc wrote: »

There is a future, but only in large scale enterprises. I think we will see a lot more partnerships and shared farming initiatives.

Farmers need to become more like businessmen and stop going on about the way of life and how "they would do nothing else". I think shared farming in particular will become key to allowing people to scale up without spending millions on conacre. A little bit more on it here: http://www.teagasc.ie/newsletters/2009/tillage-200912/

I think new markets need to be found too, but with large scale farms it will be easier to source these markets. I was at the conference refered to in the above link, and one the truest observations made was that "there is no such thing as a family farm anymore". What you have are one man farms, and these are simply inefficient and not socially sustainable.

It isn't the government are wrong, but farmer's mentalities are holding them back, and the IFA are doing a dis-service to farmers by keeping alive the hope that there is a future for any of these small/medium farms.

agreed
if you look at the age/holding profile of IFA(our main lobbying group) members its some thing over 55 may be 65 and classed on the small to medium side, some one correct me. they have to keep the hopes of these members alive and follow policies to the advantage of the majority. while the future youth of the industry are left behind. it boils my blood any time you try to take a step forward in this industry, you basically have to beat your way through the crap. im glad to see that now the dept is starting to look at partnerships share milking in a propper light, but sure enough some gob will stick in a clause along the way, that will render the whole exercise useless again. im in a family milk partnership the whole process was time consuming no one with powers to decide on any thing would do so, it was a case of pass the book pass the blame:mad:
no one else is equiped to deal with partnerships/ share milking
progressive, icbf, glanbia, banks, dept the list keeps going, they all have nt the structure in place to deal with change
farming is a business from now on, and should be theated as such
i do enjoy my job though:D

anthony16 go to collage do any sort of course for 2-3 years, collage is as much a bout education, as it is about a different view of the world, broaden the mind broaden the horizons