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

Who says that.

Absolutely not the case.

Those on low value entitlements haven't had a sniff of an opportunity to go about getting them increased in the last 2 decades.

The time of stocking up for reference years was before a lot of lads time.

Can they do anything about it now even? Except wait for them to go up to an 85% of average value in another 5 bloody years. For ffs.

Doesn't make sense not to have 100% convergence, just to put today's generation on an even footing with yesterday's generation.

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.