Farm succession seminar held in nenagh

The keen interest that exists in North Tipperary in the area of farm succession and farm families planning for the future was underlined when 200 people showed up for a recent seminar in Nenagh.

Hosted in the Abbey Court Hotel by the New Futures group,  the seminar covered all the issues members of farm families wanted to know about succession planning and partnership farming.

Among the speakers were Puckane farmer Seamus Quigley who told  the story of how he and his wife Monica expanded their dairy enterprise based on 26  inherited hectares by taking out a 20-year lease in 1998 on a large farm in Loughrea, Co Galway.

'We developed it with the owners and have grown the  overall business to milking 550 crossbred cows on two farms,' said Mr Quigley, who is quoted in an article in the Irish Farmers Journal.

The Quigleys worked in partnership with another farmer to achieve considerable expansion. He said the key to working with others was having respect, trust and honesty.

'It has to be a win-win situation for all involved,' he said.

Aisling Meehan, the Irish Farmers Journal solicitor, went through the pros and cons of different ways for farmers working together. 'New partnership rules are being developed by the Department and will be in place next year.  They will be much more farmer friendly, with less obstacles for people who want to work together,' she said.

Ms Meehan also dealt with the area of succession planning, dealing with all the tax issues and implications involved.

See full report in this week's issue of The Guardian.

Photo by Tom Doherty  shows the organisers and speakers who attended the seminar.