IFAC revelations

Some of the concerns expressed by the farmers surveyed are easily recognisable and understandable. Rising input costs were the greatest concern. The number of farmers with a positive outlook for 2024 was down by 10 per cent on the previous year. As business owners, there must be concern that over 20 per cent do not create budgets for their farms. The percentage of farmers who do not expect to be farming in five years’ time showed a substantial increase on 2023 figures and that has all kinds of implications, not only for farmer demographics, but also for how they will live out their lives post-farming. To that end, the IFAC survey showed a worrying lack of understanding around the implications of the Fair Deal scheme as a draw on farmers' assets should they have to avail of nursing home services. Ninety per cent of respondents declared little or no knowledge of the scheme. Half of all farmers still have no will made and only 33 per cent can rely on a non-state funded pension in old age. 

As a general summary, the IFAC report indicates significant uncertainty among farmers around income, succession and financial planning. While confidence was low when the survey was conducted towards the end of 2023, there are indications that the mood may be slowly improving as we enter the second month of 2024. Commodity prices are improving, input costs may have at least plateaued and, optimistically, the weather can hardly be as bad as it was in 2023. Can it?