Data obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) client database for 2015 has indicated that out of 115,664 farmers in the country, only 12% are female.

Though the majority of female farm owners fell within the 35 to 64 age bracket, 44% are over the age of 65.

Out of 6,211 farms, 31% are owned by women over the age of 80.

This high figure is suggestive of the transfer of the farm when they were widowed.

2015 figures compiled by DAFM reveal that women received just 9% of the €1bn of Basic Farm Payments.

Europe

When compared to the breakdown by the Ministry for Agriculture in Spain, 36% of Spanish farmers are female and with that they received 27% of total Basic Payment Scheme payments.

Further broken down into regions within Spain, the Galicia region, which has similar qualities to Irish Agriculture, is primarily comprised of beef suckler and dairy farms.

Here, 58% of the farmers are women and they receive 44% of the total payments.

Irish exports to China up 25% in 2016

Do you know the average age of an Irish female farmer?

According to DAFM, the average age of female farmers in Ireland is 62, five years older than their male counterparts.