A pilot plan, which includes the Aurivo Co-Operative area, to make the transfer of land easier among farmers has surpassed all expectations with its success.
The Land Mobility Programme is operated by Macra na Feirme and since its launch in 2014, it has facilitated 282 land arrangements, resulting in about 25,000 acres now being farmed by younger trained farmers.
According to a 2012 Macra na Feirme Land Mobilty and Succesion Report, a quarter of Irish farmers are over the age of 65 and almost half of all full time farmers have no identified successor.
Many of these are in the North West.
Macra na Feirme National President Sean Finan said the success of the programme would not be possible without the financial support of the FBD Trust, the three pilot area co-ops Aurivo, Dairygold and Glanbia and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Speaking to Ocean FM News, he outlined where the Land Mobility Programme goes from here:
