Hobby farming encouraged

Nothing wrong with that. Supporting food production has done more harm than good over the past 50 years

Imagine if it was applied to any other job

"Government welcomes fact that most teachers are forced to take on additional work in order to make ends meet. Green party TD part-time-teacher who teaches a few grinds as a hobby speaks effusively about nice it is to have a few extra bob coming in on top of her TD salary and expenses and wonders aloud why all teachers just doesn't do the same."

P Flynn must have gotten a job on their PR team

This PROBABLY isn't the point of the article but is gappiness a word?

I feel its a word I could use a lot!

20 sucklers?

What does he do after 8 a.m?

A lot of houses run on two incomes or one person reducing costs eg. childcare etc. Instead of partime/ full time should the question not be is the farm returning the average industrial salary, or whatever acceptable figure is out there. Assuming because a partner is working that the partners wage is supporting the farm would be incorrect imo. The question should be if the farming enterprise is bringing x amount into the house.

More "partime" farmers is all well and good but the postcard image the greens seem to be trying to project is a far cry from reality in terms of running a household, earning an income etc. Using cherry picked examples of "fulltime" farms then to hold up in organics when the holdings picked are 3 or 4 times the size of the average farm holding.

They're not just stuck in their own little bubble, tis full of helium as well

Turns over for the second sleep id say lol

I would imagine that a move towards more "part time " farming (meaning depends on what you consider part time ) in Ireland would suit both the Government (permanent ) and the EU .

A sector (livestock farming ) which is a handy scapegoat for global warming and all its associated ills would be much easier to regulate ,guide ,coerce etc when those involved are mainly seen and see themselves as not reliant on an economic return from it .

The farm here would and does support a family .Yes my BPS would be above the average on both a per hectare and total basis but like a poster on here always says "they were there for everyone at the time "

Stock numbers (mainly sheep )would be well in excess of national flock size .

All that said I will admit to being lucky in having the land base and having farmed at the "right "time .Land quality again would be very good although much of this is only due to extensive reclamation in the 90's .

Farming full time here and it would be our main income (probably 70/80% )

All that said I read threads on here re. farming and what people are doing and spending money on and most of it would be unsustainable without a very good off farm income .Stuff like bale splitters and other exotic items that are most likely lovely to have but are well out of the reach and chequebook of someone for whom any investment much pay its way and most often must pay within a year or two .Every penny spent is considered and I imagine my setup would be a very low cost type one going by what I see around me .Not a chance of me dropping 5k on a whim like I see some doing .

its the little things that people like the bould Pippa forget about; yes I would love to invest 20k in some eco friendly shite that may or may not pay me back or be good for global warming but the groceries will still have to be bought and children educated and I know where my priorities lie .

Wish these farming orgs would be more honest about their real agenda ie. fully supportive of the cheap food policy. It would then allow a proper debate in regards to their hypocrisy in terms of railing against the inevitable outcome of that position in terms of eroding margins and the sorry state of the likes of the pig/poultry sector, beef etc.

Not as bad as someone going on teh dole for 12 years to rear the children and then went to the public service.

At least with the sucklers they have to do a bit of work

It ways amazed me this full-time/part-time argument regarding farming. Is a farmer that cuts hay silage or hedges a full-time farmer on his own farm. Is a lad that hauls or buys cattle for a part-time farmers a full time farmer on his own farm. Is an agri contractor that farm but operates his contracting business from a company structure a full time farmer on his own farm.

The reality is that drystock farming takes a way less time with the advent of machinery. You could run a 200 acre drystock farm if set up right in 15-20 hours a week if you lived on it. Would this lad be a hobby farmer. If he was taking 50-80k I real terms from that farm would he be a hobby farmer if he earned 100k on outside employment

Of course there is a lot in between a 10 cow farmer and a farm that can keep a family comfortable as the only income. And even that metric will vary between different households. I'm sure there are farms bringing in well above the average industrial wage and still have a PAYE worker or other incomes.

To me a Hobby farmer is some one with enough stock to maintain a parcel of land without any real intention of turning much profit.

A part time farmer is running a small business part time. (Or at least trying to!) I would consider myself a part time farmer, even though it is currently my only income.

Maybe we all need to stop worring about how much stock the lad up the road has and how many hours he puts in? As we will all draw our own lines and conclusions, one lads part time operation may well be as big or earn as much as another lads full time.

If you farm to make the best from whatever resources you have, and whatever time you can afford to give it, you are a farmer..

No place AT ALL for the categorisation of part time farmer.

Farming is part of what you do...not the other description.

A hobby farmer on the other hand likes to categorise farmers, who try to push an ethos, claim to be farmers, yet when you ask them how much their superior cattle made at the factory...they don't know. Not only do they not know, but haven't a buuls notion of even a price bracket that they landed in....

Theybcould if course have a ministerial position, and a spouse filli g in a council position, and that might take from knowing what happened on the part time farm..

Might be wrong but an industry without a sizeable cohort of fulltime farmers ( and an ability to make a reasonable income ) is a dying industry, just in terms of attracting young people into farming, innovation, more involved in farm organisations

Pounds were in until 2002 I think so not exactly eons ago .

What was the " simple method " of boosting stocking rate ?

You hardly mean I kept lots of stock at the time ?

Yup that's what I did .Oh and I did purchase entitlements a good few years ago .Have paid for themselves many times over at this stage .

Never think it was easy...... to increase stocking rate at 10 -20% interest, **** all jobs available if you wanted to increase income and rates were piss poor anyway, beef 90p/lb in 2001,

Older generation is doing most of the work in the farm partnerships i see at the moment, they are working harder now than they did 20 years ago. Best idea for them was do like I did , set the land to the young farmers and let them bloody well work properly for it

Or 40 to 50 working the system. Which is better to the local economy, a subsistence full time lad or a lad working the system that may be generating a loss

Ya but the hobby farmer was used as an insult to many part time lads 5+ years ago. Even now the FJ is trying to invent a full-time drystock farmer based on an efficient system

Mildly would be mildly at best

It's a flawed assumption. It's grand where you have large land bases. Average farmer land base in Ireland is less than 50 acres. Farming is a capital rich industry. However I had to buy land. It's actually genetic in my family. However because we have large generational numbers it's hard to sustain. I am an outlier.

My mother, grandfather and great grandfather all bought land. My father died when I was two years of age. A brother of his bought his own farm.

I am the only one of two in my generation to buy. It probably leads to arrogance. But I am where I am.

There was s a system there you work the system.

Not entirely true

Not true either. For too long efficiency had been the Buzz word in farming. However it's profitability not output that matters. This is from a drystock perceptive not a dairying perspective

Thats fine ( I try to farm to benefit nature as much as possible here too ) but you probably have income outside of farming to allow you to do this? Look how little farmland comes up for sale ( and what does makes multiples of what farming alone can return ) so its very hard to be a fulltime farmer. ( The EU subs make it attractive to farm minimally and keep land ) I think this reduces the status of farming in many peoples eyes. Unless you inherit a large block of land its hard to see a way into farming for young people today. This leads to stagnation eventually ( look at the age profile of farmers in ireland )