The term quiet quitting has entered the business world in recent times. It is used to describe people that have reached a plateau in their career and no longer have ambition to progress further.
As they are usually well established and competent, they can perform their role in the business with relatively little effort and keep under the radar.
This is sufficient to keep out of trouble, but colleagues working in close proximity and management will often feel that the person concerned could push themselves a little harder and deliver more for the business.
They are doing the basics, but leave the impression that they could do more.
Succession issue
It could be argued that the same is happening in farming and the question is why in an owner-driven business?
In any survey of farmers, the issue of finding a successor to take over the farm features prominently. In a recent IFAC report in which over 1,100 farmers participated, 40% didn’t have a formal successor and 20% didn’t have a successor at all.
Given that the average of farmers is 59, succession planning should be a top priority, but that isn’t the case.
Also, the survey was conducted at the end of a year when prices were good for all sectors of Irish agriculture with the exception of tillage. If there wasn’t enthusiasm to get into farming at the end of 2025, when will there be?
A big issue of course is that young people now have career options that simply didn’t exist in the past. Farming was labour intensive, but it was work at a time when there were few opportunities.
What is particularly striking is that the issue of succession is as prominent for farmers in areas of what is considered good land, as well as those operating on more marginal ground.
If a farmer with an economically viable unit cannot persuade a family member to take over, then the future is bleak for the traditional family farm model.
Doing less
As well as succession issues, it also appears that many farmers have settled for doing less, particularly in beef and sheep production.
In the first 11 months of 2025, beef export volumes were at their lowest since 2018 and sheepmeat exports were at their lowest since 2016, according to Bord Bia data.
Historically, production in these sectors was encouraged through headage payments. However, for over two decades now, the direction of travel for the Common Agricultural Policy has been to decouple payments and encourage farming for the environment as opposed to beef and sheep output.
Most beef and sheep farmers are part-time, with off-farm employment. Over time, they have worked out that keeping fewer livestock doesn’t impact their payment greatly and they have less practical issues to deal with to stay compliant with the rules.
There is nothing like having fewer cattle in the shed to reduce the worry of tanks overflowing during a spell of wet weather like we have had recently.
Organic option
The last Programme for Government set an ambitious target to have 10% of Irish farmland in organic production by 2030 and 8,500 farm businesses.
In 2025, there were around 5,500 organic farmers and over 5% of agricultural land was in organic farming or in the process of transitioning. This week, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon welcomed a further 269 new organic farmers to the Organic Farming Scheme.
The vast majority of new organic farmers are in beef and sheep production and are predominantly located in more marginal farming areas.
There is generous support available through the organic farming conversion scheme and there is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest that many farmers who were extensive farmers previously have decided to go full organic.
In many cases, this has simply meant elimination of fertiliser and pesticide use and reducing stock numbers to a level that the grass output on the farm can support.
In this system, the volume of output is of secondary importance, as much of it continues to be sold in mainstream markets.
Comment – still farming but doing less
The combination of an ageing farming population, fewer succession options and Government policy all means that Irish farmers are no longer motivated to expand their business and produce more raw material for processing in our meat factories and creameries.
This ultimately means that less processing capacity is required and ABP Waterford has now joined Kepak Clonee and ABP Linden in starting a consultation with the staff to rationalise processing at these sites.
The number of farmers selling their land hasn’t increased, but many are doing less - or 'quietly quitting' to use the business jargon.
The term quiet quitting has entered the business world in recent times. It is used to describe people that have reached a plateau in their career and no longer have ambition to progress further.
As they are usually well established and competent, they can perform their role in the business with relatively little effort and keep under the radar.
This is sufficient to keep out of trouble, but colleagues working in close proximity and management will often feel that the person concerned could push themselves a little harder and deliver more for the business.
They are doing the basics, but leave the impression that they could do more.
Succession issue
It could be argued that the same is happening in farming and the question is why in an owner-driven business?
In any survey of farmers, the issue of finding a successor to take over the farm features prominently. In a recent IFAC report in which over 1,100 farmers participated, 40% didn’t have a formal successor and 20% didn’t have a successor at all.
Given that the average of farmers is 59, succession planning should be a top priority, but that isn’t the case.
Also, the survey was conducted at the end of a year when prices were good for all sectors of Irish agriculture with the exception of tillage. If there wasn’t enthusiasm to get into farming at the end of 2025, when will there be?
A big issue of course is that young people now have career options that simply didn’t exist in the past. Farming was labour intensive, but it was work at a time when there were few opportunities.
What is particularly striking is that the issue of succession is as prominent for farmers in areas of what is considered good land, as well as those operating on more marginal ground.
If a farmer with an economically viable unit cannot persuade a family member to take over, then the future is bleak for the traditional family farm model.
Doing less
As well as succession issues, it also appears that many farmers have settled for doing less, particularly in beef and sheep production.
In the first 11 months of 2025, beef export volumes were at their lowest since 2018 and sheepmeat exports were at their lowest since 2016, according to Bord Bia data.
Historically, production in these sectors was encouraged through headage payments. However, for over two decades now, the direction of travel for the Common Agricultural Policy has been to decouple payments and encourage farming for the environment as opposed to beef and sheep output.
Most beef and sheep farmers are part-time, with off-farm employment. Over time, they have worked out that keeping fewer livestock doesn’t impact their payment greatly and they have less practical issues to deal with to stay compliant with the rules.
There is nothing like having fewer cattle in the shed to reduce the worry of tanks overflowing during a spell of wet weather like we have had recently.
Organic option
The last Programme for Government set an ambitious target to have 10% of Irish farmland in organic production by 2030 and 8,500 farm businesses.
In 2025, there were around 5,500 organic farmers and over 5% of agricultural land was in organic farming or in the process of transitioning. This week, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon welcomed a further 269 new organic farmers to the Organic Farming Scheme.
The vast majority of new organic farmers are in beef and sheep production and are predominantly located in more marginal farming areas.
There is generous support available through the organic farming conversion scheme and there is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest that many farmers who were extensive farmers previously have decided to go full organic.
In many cases, this has simply meant elimination of fertiliser and pesticide use and reducing stock numbers to a level that the grass output on the farm can support.
In this system, the volume of output is of secondary importance, as much of it continues to be sold in mainstream markets.
Comment – still farming but doing less
The combination of an ageing farming population, fewer succession options and Government policy all means that Irish farmers are no longer motivated to expand their business and produce more raw material for processing in our meat factories and creameries.
This ultimately means that less processing capacity is required and ABP Waterford has now joined Kepak Clonee and ABP Linden in starting a consultation with the staff to rationalise processing at these sites.
The number of farmers selling their land hasn’t increased, but many are doing less - or 'quietly quitting' to use the business jargon.
SHARING OPTIONS