A lack of real-world experience and knowledge is leaving teenagers disillusioned about entering the farming sector.

That’s the view of 2023 National Dairy Council (NDC) and Kerrygold Quality Milk Award winner John Macnamara, who was speaking at a recent farm walk on his farm in Co Limerick.

These comments come after a year where Teagasc green certificate applications are down 12% and the number of Leaving Cert students choosing a Level 8 agriculture course as their first preference being down 16%.

Responding to a question from Macra president Elaine Houilhan, John said parents in farm families need to introduce the paperwork and finance to their children at a younger age.

“Involve the children between 12 and 14, show them the milk statements, how much nuts is costing, what a pallet of fertiliser is costing. Show them the costs that are involved, but also let them know that there is money to be made in farming as well," he said.

Earlier stage

Succession has been a major part of rural debates, as the average age of a farmer in Ireland is now 58 years.

Macnamara, who also won the Young Farmer of the Year Award in 2005, added that he can trust his children to take some responsibility on the farm.

“What happens an awful lot of children nowadays is they don’t be let see the receipts or payments, so they don’t realise what money can be made.

“All we can keep doing is giving them the knowledge at an earlier stage so they can challenge us a bit more. They will be more willing to take on those challenges as well.”

Rising costs

Meanwhile, at the discussion, Teagasc head of animal and grassland research and innovation Laurence Shalloo was questioned about the ever-rising costs on farms and the fluctuating milk prices.

He agreed that farmers need to target certain costs to be lowered, but some will be harder than others.

“The 12cent/litre increase in cost we’ve seen at a farm level, 26% of that was feed costs. Feed usage didn’t change, it was all about the price change - we need to pull that back further.

“So, need to get the input prices back down. Some will be very hard to take out: the service of your milking parlour, the vet costs. Some of them we have to target. I don’t think we’ll get back to 24cent/litre, but we’ll have to target maybe getting half way down."