Only 8.5% of farm managers in Ireland are under the age of 40, a new survey from Eurostat has found.

The survey found that 62.4% of farm managers in Ireland are aged between 40-64 years of age, with 29.1% over the age of 64 years-old.

In 2016, the figures which are the latest available, show that 10.3 million people working as farm managers in the EU.

The average age of farmers is very much at the older-end of the age spectrum; nearly one third (32%) of farm managers in the EU were 65 years of age or more. Only 11% of farm managers in the EU were young farmers under the age of 40 years.

Young farmers were particularly low in the United Kingdom, with only 5.3% of farm managers less than 40 years-old. Some 34.1% were over the age of 64, with the remaining 60.6% of farm managers falling in the 40-64 year-old age bracket.

Nevertheless, the youngest farm managers tended to have bigger farms in terms of area, livestock and standard output.

The farming profession is dominated by men, with only about three in 10 (29%) EU farm managers being women.

The proportion of young farm managers who were women was lower still (23%).

Farm managers in the EU, 2016 (%)

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Just 8.5% of Irish farm managers are under 40

Farm manager positions are dominated by men across the EU, with only 10.9% under 40 years old, a new survey has found.