Victor Boyhan: Women Farmers, Farm Succession & Rural Housing

Cathaoirleach, first I want to welcome the Minister to the House. He's no stranger to me and I hope I'm no stranger to him. And I want to thank him for coming here himself as the Minister to deal with this motion. And I suppose I just want to set the context that, you know, the United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer. And that's a very significant designation and we've been talking about it on the Agricultural Committee certainly for the last 12 months. It's a global initiative that aims to increase awareness on the crucial role of women play in the agri-food system, and more specifically the food security and nutrition and poverty eradication. I want to acknowledge that the programme of a Government of 2025 recognises the need to do more on gender equality across Irish society. Gender equality objectives in the UN Sustainable Development Goals are core principles of the European Union. My motion this evening seeks to specifically focus on the promotion of the role of women in rural development, farming and food production. It is important that we fully implement the National Women in Agriculture Action Plan to recognise the role of women in farming. Minister, I want to thank you and to acknowledge that you commissioned the HERSELF research project on women in agriculture, a very significant document and a very significant collaboration of women involved in agriculture. The outcome of the recommendations of that project that you promoted and established also established for us all a baseline position on women in agriculture and provide for us an evidence-based and informed policy base in this area. I want also to pay tribute to the amazing work of the Route Rooted in Strength, Women, Climate and Food Justice, a celebration of the role of women farmers in Tull of Ebbia, Living Land, the member-led organisation of farmers, growers and land-based workers pursuing change for food and agriculture, sustainable development and systems in Ireland. From small horticulturists to beef, pork and sheep farmers to producers of milk, cheese and yoghurt, all are committed to producing and selling healthy, nutrient-dense food grown in harmony with our environment. In Ireland, approximately 90% of food, mainly dairy products and beef, is produced for export, and that's something we can celebrate and be proud of. While it is estimated, however, that about 80% of food on the Irish market is imported. Big agriculture, with its focus on livestock and grazing, is only part of the story of agriculture and food production in Ireland, and indeed across the European Union. Women farmers are renowned for introducing diversity to farming, and that is a critical point that I want to acknowledge as part of our debate here tonight on the UN International Year of the Women Farmer. Farm succession is perhaps one of the biggest issues around women entering agriculture, or certainly issues in terms of access to the farm. I want to turn to this particular issue of farm succession around planning, which is critical for the transfer of the family farm. Transfer ownership of the farm is more than land, as you well know, Minister. It is also about transferring skills, knowledge and labour to ensure the continuation of the agricultural enterprise. There are many tax liability challenges that government need to address for the transfer of the family farm to be fair and to be successful. I think it is important as policy makers that we look at two or three issues. As policy makers and legislators, we need to get a clearer picture of the National Farm Survey, requiring separate data on our on-farm work, off-farm work and care work. Information on how labour is organised on farms, including hours worked and the types of activity carried out, such as administrative bookkeeping tasks, should also be captured in any new survey. Policy makers and legislators also need to understand the extent to which off-farm employment contributes to family farm income, so further analysis is also needed in this area too, Minister. In terms of acquisition of land and succession, one of the biggest barriers to working as a primary producer is a lack of access to land, whether one is male or female. Data shows us that over half of the farms in Ireland do not have an identified successor in place. Where there is an identified successor, a significant majority, indeed over 80% of those identified as successors to the family farm are male. Time and time again, I have been told by farm families that there were mixed views on succession norms in Ireland around farm and agriculture. A few farmers spoke of being equal opportunity parents, as in whichever child was most interested in the farm, they would go on to work on the farm, regardless of gender, and I am encouraged by that. Their sense was that this was a case with an increasing number of farmers, although this view is not, as you know Minister, reflected in the quantity of data available to us at this time. The son as heir, that expression, mindset, can potentially lead to problems, particularly in the son who has little interest in farming. That is a challenge Minister. I spoke with an agri-advisor the other day and she told me she was on a farm some time ago and was praising the farmer about the fine farm enterprise that he had. He told her in a reply that he hated the farm and resented it and was expected to return home from being abroad to look after his parents and indeed the farm. He was now 70 years of age, single, and he said himself, very lonely, but felt he had a duty to serve and continue the line of the family farm. Qualitative findings suggest a greater dialogue on the impact of the son as heir norm on the sustainability of the agricultural sector is needed and the burden of this on same and on some. We also hear so many times of the child that deserves the farm but does not get it. We say that the land deserves, and I say that the land deserves the child that has the greatest interest in the farming of the land. It is of course a lifestyle choice and a choice for all involved. Negative impacts of not wanting the farm include loss of talent, pressures on men who do not wish to continue farming, indeed reports of depression, loneliness and comments like, he got it handy, he didn't make it, he got it, he got his feet onto the table and he got into this place. Somewhat derogatory remarks but for those who are insecure and don't necessarily want it are challenging and present problems. There are missed opportunities in relation to alternative opportunities for the farm and impediments to women's ability to fulfil their potential role and desire to be farmers. Supporting women who wish to pursue careers in farming is critical to the sustainability of farming and rural communities. Statistically we know that there are more male students than female students studying agricultural science at the Leaving Cert level. What I would like to see here Minister is a module of the Green Cert included in the Leaving Cert Ag course. Such an initiative, and it would be a new one, such an initiative would support and recognise the students' love and knowledge of farming and the openness to more possibilities for them in agriculture and in innovation as a career path of choice. Too many students leave school, secondary school, not too sure where they're going, a gap happens between second and third level education because they may take a year out and they drift from agriculture. I spoke to someone the other day, a family member of mine, who says I never really did the Green Cert and I'm sorry I didn't. When you start making money it's very hard to go back into education and training and I think we could capture students in that period just one elementary model as part of the agricultural syllabus for those who choose. That's really important in terms of agriculture. Turning to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, I think they're important because they're part of my motion here today. Goal 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals specifically addresses gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls everywhere by 2030. Irish data from the Census of Agriculture in 2020, which you would be familiar with, Minister, highlighted that women are underrepresented in the agricultural sector and their valuable contributions every day to the family farms are essentially invisible. Advancing gender equality is crucial to the sustainability and success of our agricultural sector. Minister, the report on the Commission of Generational Renewal and Farming, which you published in 2025, identified 31 barriers to generational renewal, specifically noted the importance of improving gender balance. This now provides a clear roadmap of progress for many of the matters that I have raised with you here this evening. I am conscious that there are many players in agriculture, but I want to take this opportunity to thank a few people who helped me in developing some thoughts in relation to this motion. I want to acknowledge Philip Boucher-Hayes, RT's flagship agriculture and rural affairs radio program, RT Radio Countrywide, who have featured many successful women in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and indeed in artisan food related to agriculture. I know I listen to it every Saturday morning. I'm sure most of us do. It's either in the car or out working, but it's an amazing program. And they are great ambassadors for agriculture, and they're particularly great ambassadors for women who want to partake, and they share many personal journeys of women on their program. I want to acknowledge and thank Agriland for their active and innovative communication in all things agriculture and food science. I want to thank Dr. Maura Farrell from NUI Galway, whose teaching and research are rooted in rural and agricultural geography, with a central focus on rural gender studies, rural development, land use, agricultural change, and the social economic resilience of rural communities. I want to thank Jackie Flannery from the Irish Rural Association for her strong and consistently articulate advocacy for rural affairs. I particularly want to thank the research team of herself, the project that you initiated, Minister, and I want to acknowledge that again. To Dr. Martina Roche, Dr. Noreen McNamara from Maynooth University, Dr. Mary Anne Hurley and Alice Hand from Munster Technical Institute, and Dr. Anne McKenna Walsh from Chagas, and indeed your staff at the Department of Agriculture. And finally, I want to thank the farmers, both female and male, who gave me their time to share their experience and their stories to assist me in the greater understanding of their ambition for greater and more equal opportunities for all in agriculture. I see I've still got four or five minutes, and I just want to touch on a few key issues. Minister, your program or the government's program, Our Rural Future, Rural Development Policy 2021-25, was an amazing document. Indeed, I read most of it again today in preparation for this meeting, and it struck me that there had, I looked again at a further edition of Our Rural Future 2025 work program, really focusing in on some of the issues that may not have been addressed. I'd like to ask at some point that your department might look again at this, because I think all of this is still relevant. It may need slight updating. Things happened during the process of 2021 to 2025 that set back some of the key objectives. But the key objectives in here talk about rural communities, equal opportunities in rural communities. They talk about rural housing, and I'm regularly in here talking about rural housing and how we address it. I think for 15 years, I've received letters from various ministers talking about rural housing guidelines, and we need rural housing guidelines. The other day, I heard the Minister of Housing talking in relation to his plans to release rural housing guidelines. I again say here tonight, we don't need the Minister to publish rural housing guidelines just right now. We need to publish a draft rural housing guidelines to seek a consultation on them. And we know that clusters of housing are important. We know that women who enter into farm partnerships, particularly with my focus on women here today, may be in farm partnerships with their parents. They may wish to build a new home on the farmland, particularly if it's an extensive piece of farmland. They don't necessarily want to live with their parents or their grandparents. They want to establish their own families. That's supporting women in rural Ireland. That's supporting women and families, new families in agriculture. So rural housing is critical. I think a greater focus on our, again in this document, in developing our food hubs. And I think of the food hub in the Tide that you'd be strongly associated. I think of Board Innovator in Galway. And so hubs and innovation are important. Agriculture is now a science. It's not something you put a pair of Wellingtons out and chance your arm. It is now a science. And so training is critically important. And helping women access agriculture and horticulture. And it is not all academic. Much of the work can be learned through practical experiences. One thing you know, and you know because you're a young family yourself, but your children of 7, 8 and 9 could teach you a few things. Most children 14 and 15 on a family farm in a protected setting are managing farm machinery. And there are risks associated with that. But what I'm saying is they glean vast amounts of experience on the ground from the practicalities of agriculture. It isn't all for the academic. There is practical learning. So I know that Chagas have done a lot of work in this space. How do we have knowledge transfer in agriculture? How do we promote more food? I talked earlier on about that 80% of food that we're bringing into this country. So there are challenges. There are added value to foods, particularly in the dairy sector. And we see that with yogurts and everything. I went to Tesco's recently with a delegation from the Oireachtas here. I'm so impressed to see so many new products on the shelves that came from Ireland. And I think that's really, really important. So we should be proud of our achievements. And I want to finish also by acknowledging the very significant work of BORN BEAR. It is an amazing organisation. Yes, like every organisation, it has its problems from time to time. But it is a showcase of our Irish food, our horticulture, our agriculture. They are proud ambassadors for us. We are proud of their work as ambassadors across the world. And I commend them for that work. But women have a significant role and want to play an equal role. And I talk about farmers. I talk about equal opportunity. I also talk about male farmers. So let's include farmers. Let's promote farmers. Let's promote women to take their rightful place in the sustainable way that we build our rural communities. Thank you, Minister. I finish on this point. I want to thank you because you've also been the Minister for State and Agriculture. So you have the continuity and now the Minister. You have been behind much of this. I would finally suggest let's not throw out this book on rural future. Let's update it. Renew it. Renew our vigour to promote agriculture access for all. Thank you.