I have resisted from commentating on women working in agriculture because generally when I’m in full rant mode I can see the eyes glaze over on my not so captive audience. But keep reading – I’ll try dilute it down to an observation as opposed to a rant.

I decided to take a spin down to the Ploughing Championships last month spurred on by a ‘Women in Farming’ talk.

It seemed relevant; there was no mention of Nathan Carter or the best recipe for blackberry jam – perfect.

With attendance figures hitting 100,000 at the Ploughing on the Tuesday, I was disappointed to find a smattering of listeners at the talk.

Was this a reflection on the interest of Irish women in agriculture? While I left encouraged by the speakers I couldn’t help but wonder where they all were.

’Lady Farmer of the Year’

Maybe they were at the Lady Farmer awards where the IFA’s John Lynskey thanked ‘lady’ farmers for ‘keeping us farmers on the straight and narrow’.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see an appreciation for women involved in agriculture on any level and the support to husbands, fathers and brothers around the country is essential.

But where is the representation of woman who are farming independently in their own right, what issues are they facing and why are more women not choosing agriculture as a career choice.

When it comes to farm succession in Ireland, overwhelmingly the son is the beneficiary and I’m not sure this is changing anytime soon.

Not getting involved

In my Green Cert class there are just four women. We are currently doing our beef practical module and the other day we were running through the standard drafting, dosing and handling of cattle in the yard.

When our lecturer asked who wanted to go first I noticed the female contingent back step and had their backs firmly against the rails. Not us it seemed.

Even though they come from farming backgrounds and help out on the family farm they admitted when it came to dealing with stock in the yard they “let the men do it” and just hold the taggers or the needle.

Confidence

So are we as women partly to blame by not having the confidence to put ourselves forward as a viable option for our parents?

It’s something I myself find alien as my mother and I do the stock work ourselves. If I asked my father to tag a calf I’m not sure either of them would survive.

Currently there are simmerings of a new women in farming association and I hope it takes off. It is badly needed and the discussion it could bring will be invaluable to the future of women working on Irish farms.

It’s the same dilemma in all sectors of Irish life as to how to get more women in policy and decision making; the current status quo needs to be shaken up.

Back on the farm

A new batch of hoggets arrived last week. Combined with the existing ewes and replacement lambs I’m up to the numbers I originally set out to hit when I first brought sheep onto the farm last year.

As my numbers were low this year I managed to sell all the fit lambs direct to the customer. It will be different next year with the step up in numbers and I imagine they will mostly hit the road to ICM in Navan.

Following the inevitable ABP/Slaney merger this week I can’t help but wonder how this will affect the Irish organic beef and lamb markets.

They say business as normal for Slaney, where we send the bulk of our finished cattle. The majority of organic meat produced in Ireland goes for export so could this lead to a widening and expansion of the market abroad or is this anywhere on their agenda.

The IFA had issues with decreased competition in the beef sector. For us organic producers it will be the same but more acute; fewer options for the processing of our cattle.

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Farmer Writes: Jane Shackleton