W1A-019 Louth farming-0.txt
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CHAPTER 111

PART-TIME FARMING

Part-time farming is a term which is very hard to get an adequate definition for. Official figures in recording part-time farmers underestimate the amount that there are.
There are two main ways to look at the term; (1) to do with source of income (2) to do with amount of labour time
The established full working year on a farm is 275 days. Irish figures for part-time farming tend to be based on labour and they take into account any adult worker on the farm, not just the owner-occupier. This leads to confusion between part-time farmers and part-time farms.

In Ireland a farm is only seen to be a part-time farm for official stataistics if it is the farmer who works for a certain period off the farm. But if the wife works off the farm then it is not seen as a part-time farm.

Up to the mid 1980's part-time farming wasn't really important in Ireland. But since 1985 with the introduction of C.A.P. part-time farming has been a transitional Phenomenon in Ireland and that it arose because of the process of commercialisation in Ireland. Before this we had the idea of full Time farms. These farms had enough means by itself to subtain the household. It had enough labour to occupy the owner and his sons as well. This ideal changed with commercialisation of agriculture and in the increased competition and struggles in farming.

Research in America says that it has discovered four distinct groups of farmers (some overlap). 1. People (hobby farmers)Ð bought into farming. 2. Farmers retired and no direct heir-running down enterprise. 3. Aspiring Ð route into eventual full Time farming. 4. Chronic part-time Ð perhaps once hoped to become full time farmers and have given up. Also may be people who have access to work both on the farm and off it and they want to keep it this way.

The farmers in the Cooley Peninsula mainly fit into category four now. Many of them have access to work both on and off the farm. But this will be discussed in detail later on.

It has been seen that the size of the farm in relation to part time farming is related to the type of the other occupation. For example the larger the farm the less likely that the owner's (other job) would be that of an employee. It has been found that two thirds were employers or self employed.

In Part Time farming there is the case that where one member leaves the farm then there is an increase in work for the other workers. The effect of this may mean a change in the line of work the farmer was engaged in. But this does not necessarily mean a decrease in farm productivity. Also the income from the off farm work may in many cases be ploughed back into the farm, so as to improve the farm. Much of the off the farm work helps to maintain the farm.

Part time farming has in the past meant that a farmer devoted some time often on a seasonal basis to off farm work. The percentage of part time farmers will increase as the country becomes more industrialized with an increase in the percentage of farm land owned by part time farmer's.

This shows that many farmers in Louth work off the farm for a period of time during the year. These figures will have increased over the past 14 years. There would be an increase in part-time farmers. In the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy there is an increase in the proportion of part time farmers, whether they are farmers who supplement farm earnings with off farm employment or non farmers who buy land.

Rural Industrialisation has had a great impact on farming. It has been seen to be the way of providing a new source of work, and income and also to enable farmers to farm more effectively and increase their farm output. Industrial earnings tend to be plouged back into the farm. The farmer is able to improve his equipment and his facilities which in turn enables him to improve the farm.

The impact of part-time farming can be seen in the Cooley Peninsula. Many of the farmers here have branched into another activity in order to improve their standards of living. But most of the extra income that they earn is ploughed back into the farm in order to make the farm more productive and better able to withstand the pressure and competition from within the farming community as a whole.

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

In the mid 1980's the European Community's agricultural Policy was in need of change. This policy is know as C.A.P. or Common Agricultureal Policy. The reason for change was partly because of the costs of marketing, but also the extent of surplus and costs in trying to manage these was another consideration.

The food mountain of the E.E.C. were causing major problems. In the past the E.E.C. controlled these food mountains by adding new international markets to the E.E.C. But these markets were no longer available to the E.C. BECAUSE THEY WERE OVER SATURATED.

For the first time there were many strong pressure groups outside the agricultural sector. The E.E.C. were planning for 1992, and the idea of free trade. This was another reason why the C.A.P. had to be changed.

In 1985 the problem of food mountains was eased slightly as butter was sold to Russia and there was new meat markets in the East 1/2

The C.A.P. change was brought about by pressure from America through the G.A.T.T. talks. There has been more vocal critizm in the last couple of years particularly in the way the C.A.P. preferred the larger producers than the smaller ones. Many small farmers have been forced out of farming. This factor in farming can be clearly seen in the Cooley Peninsula as now there are little or no small farmers in the commercial market. All the larger farmers in the area have either bouhj the land of the small farmers or are renting the land.

There has been massive technological changes in agriculture. These changes are related to overall state strategies in the managing of agriculture. The technological change can be seen in the Cooley Peninsula in many ways. One can see that most of the farmers have most farm machinery available to them. Every one of the farmers in the survey I conducted had more than one tractor and a combine harvestor. Many of them had ploughs, sowers, balers etc.

PART-TIME FARMING ACTIVITIES IN THE COOLEY PENINSULA

The Peninsula can become the 'gem' of Europe, if the potential for growth in manay areas can be harnessed into one all embracomg programme and deceiving adequate resources through the structural funds.

The growth area include; (1) Agriculture (2) Horticulture (3) Tourism (4) Forestry (5) Transport and Storage (6) Fishing (7) Food Industry

It is clear when studying the area that the farmers are changing their agricultural practices. They are specialising in many areas and many are involved in part-time activities. This has happened because farming has now become so competitive that farmers need to change their strategies in order to survive.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture in the area can be greatly improved. Over the last two decades new strains of grain which are better adapted to the soils of the area have been bred. These grains are now being used in the area so crop yields are now much higher. New and improved sprays and fertilisers are being manufactured every few years and these are improving the yields of crops significantly. New breeds of cattle and Sheep are being discovered and being used. These new cattle and sheep are better able to withstand diseases

As can be seen from this table farmers are realising the potential that sheep have in the area. The overall number of sheep in the area has increased quite dramatically in the space of three years i.e. from 30,450 in 1986 to 62,000 in 1989. Also the number of flock owners has increased. The hilly areas in Cooley are very suitable for sheep.

These numbers have increased since them. A large number of the sheep owners are in the Cooley peninsula. This is because the area is suitable for sheep rearing. But this potential can be increased even further in the future. The sheep farmers in the area have a group known as the Sheep Farmers Association and this group is very important in the managing of sheep. The importance of groups in farming has been discussed in the literary section.

In the Cooley Peninsula there is a livestock premium and headage scheme in operation. This is important to the farmers in the area. All the sheep and cattle farmers have to be registered herd owners of 18 years of age and over. If the ares is disadvantaged then the farmer will receive higher grants from the government. The Cooley area has some disadvantaged areas i.e. the hills and the mountains so they receive slightly over the average grant for cattle. Ewe premiums are the same all over the country and this is dependant on the difference between reference price and average market price for a marketing year. In 1991 lowland premium was expected to be £ 20/ewe with £ 3.45 extra in severely handicapped areas.

As can be seen agriculture is widely developed in the area but the potential for better development is there. Government grants can also help the area.

HORTICULTURE

Nationally we imported 48 million pounds worth of Horticultural produce in 1987. In the seven years between 1978 and 1985, the import of apples rose by 20,000 tonnes, onions by 9,000 tonnes and tomatoes by 8,000 tonnes. If natural gas was made available to Irish growers at the price available to Dutch growers in Holland, tomato production could be expanded to reduce the level of imports. With proper investment, we could grow the major share of the 17 million worth of imported apples. Fashionable vegetables could be produced at home.

An example of what can be done when the right tactics are adopted is very evident in Mushroom growing. Fresh mushrooms to the value of 7 million pounds were exported in 1985, as a result in the establishment of growing centres and satelite growers based on the family unit. This factor can be seen in the Cooley Peninsula. There are two major mushroom growers in the area. These growers received government grants to set up their industry and now they are very successful. They employ many local people and they export to markets both at home and abroad.

This is an example of a part-time activity which a farmer may go into. The two mushroom industry owners are both ordinary farmers as well. One of them is a sheep farmer with a small amount of tillage activities and the other one is a tillage farmer.

In the Cooley Peninsula there is an ever-increasing number interested in all areas of horticulture production. The area offers a fruitful and productive zone for horticultural training and for field trials on family farms.

If horticultural production is to flourish, then those involved must be highly skilled, must co-operate with each other, must find better and more economic methods of production and above all must be aware of consumer needs. This can only be achieved by proper training. Teagasc provides many courses for this training in the area and over the years many more people have undergone this course and have started growing horticultural produce as a result.
