Female successors in Irish family farming: four pathways to farm transfer

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on potential female successors and family landholding in the Irish farming community. Four case studies are drawn on to explore the dynamics surrounding female succession. Four distinct possibilities emerged for how the landholding could be transferred and used: lease of the land by the successor, who acts as a landholder; the development of a business that draws on the farm’s resources; personal farming of the land; and sale of the land. It is suggested that the changing nature of succession will lead to a reimagining of what it means to succeed and the possibilities arising from this.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article étudie la propriété foncière familiale et les successeurs féminins potentiels dans la communauté agricole irlandaise. Quatre études de cas sont utilisées pour explorer la dynamique entourant la succession féminine. Quatre possibilités distinctes de transmission et d’utilisation de la propriété foncière ont été identifiées : la location de la terre par le successeur, qui agit en tant que propriétaire foncier ; le développement d’une entreprise qui mobilise les ressources de la ferme ; l’exploitation agricole personnelles de la terre ; et la vente de la terre. Nous suggérons que les transformations de la notion de succession conduiront à une ré-imagination de ce que signifie « réussir » et des possibilités qui en découlent.

KEYWORDS:

• Female succession
• land usage
• farm futures
• family farming
• Ireland

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Cassidy

Anne Cassidy has a PhD in Child and Youth Research from NUI Galway. Her thesis investigates university students from the Irish family farming community who are unlikely to become full-time farmers, with a specific focus was on the impact of belonging to this community on attachments to the farm, on the succession process and pathways toward adulthood. Her research experience encompasses rural youth sociology, gender, community development and transitions to adulthood.