Women will play more prominent role in the future of Irish dairy
Karen Smyth is a dairy farmer in Dunkerrin, Co Offaly.
Around 27% of the near 280,000 people working on farms in Ireland are female. Of the more than 130,000 farmholders, only 13% are female.
With fewer than half of farmholders having a succession plan in place, 83% of identified successors are male. This doesn’t sound too hopeful in the context of addressing the gender balance issue in agriculture.
