Planning needed on NI farms – Lockhart

Carla Lockhart (PICTURED) said: “The study by the University Of Essex shows that within the UK, farmers in Northern Ireland are the least likely to proactively plan succession of their farm. According to this study, only 13.6 per cent of farmers intend on retiring at all.

“This highlights a problem that I know the UFU have been very active in encouraging in recent years and this has been successful. However, we need to look at other ways of encouraging this conversation. It is not an easy conversation, nor indeed is it an easy thing to hand over the reins. We also need to be continuing to encourage our younger generations into farming and there is no better way of doing that than ensuring a good income can be derived from that career path.

“There are many ways that this transition can be handled to make it less abrupt and I think the more this can be highlighted, the better. I have written to the Minister, my colleague Edwin Poots, to see what more DAERA can do to manage this conversation.”