The Scheme of Early Retirement from Farming in the Republic of Ireland

Cease agricultural activity forever? Underestimating the importance of symbolic capital

“…Similarly, drawing on the family farm transfer literature from Ireland and further afield (Gasson and Errington, 1993;Kimhi and Lopez, 1997;Gillmor, 1999;Defra, 2002, Vare, 2006Bika, 2007;Calus et al, 2008;Lobley et al, 2010;Ingram and Kirwan, 2011;Barclay et al, 2012), it is clear that in spite of the inherent desire to keep the family farm in the family, there is considerable reluctance and resistance amongst the older generation towards relinquishing control and ownership and retiring. Consequently, there is a lack of land mobility (i.e.…”

“…It has been argued that failure to do so can have adverse impacts on not only the development trajectory of a farm but also the productivity and innovativeness of the agricultural industry as a whole (Gillmor, 1999;Lobley, 2010) As such, optimal timing is considered crucial to a successful family farm transfer (Lange, et al, 2011). A potential difficulty in passing on the legacy of the family farm is that successors are ready to begin their careers, but parents are not always ready to hand over the farm (Keating, 1996).…”

“…Farming life throughout the world is characterised by the almost inseparable intimate integration of home, work, memories and family tradition (Barclay et al, 2012;Kirkpatrick, 2012;Uchiyama and Whitehead, 2012). In fact, Lobley et al (2004) and previously Gillmor (1977;1999) pointed to distinctive characteristics of farmers, in that they tend to have deep rooted emotional attachment to the key business assets they own, such as particular tracts of land or animals, thereby increasing their reluctance to relinquish ownership and leave farming. Kirkpatrick (2013) argues that in many cases the older farmer's sense of place and purpose attached to the family farm supersedes economic imperatives encouraging the transfer of the family farm to the next generation.…”

“…In an effort to alleviate concerns of an aging farming population and improve competitiveness, the Irish policy environment has explored various methods of stimulating and enticing intergenerational family farm transfer for some time. These included several well-documented financial incentives which encouraged early retirement from farming, albeit very little change in attitudes towards intergenerational transfer of the farm has come about (Ryan, 1995, Gillmor, 1999Bika, 2007). Early retirement schemes have had only marginal success in restructuring the farming sector.…”

“…The acceptability of retirement schemes from farming is likely to be a personal dilemma for many elderly farmers particularly as they adjust to a major change in their occupational role (Commins, 1973;Gillmor 1999).…”