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Census of Agriculture 2020 - Preliminary Results

Demographic Profile of Farm Holders

In this section, the age and gender of farm holders in 2020 is compared with the previous Censuses of Agiculture. It should be noted that in 1991, 2000 and 2010, demographic details were not recorded for holders of commercial enterprises on the Census of Agriculture. For 2020, in the case of commercial enterprises, the demographic details of the farm manager are used - see background notes and definitions for more information.

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Gender and Age (1991 - 2020)

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X-axis label	Female	Male
1991	9.7	90.3
2000	10.7	89.3
2010	12.4	87.6
2020	13.4	86.6

Over the ten-year period from 2010 to 2020, there was a 1.0% increase in the percentage share of female farm holders. In 2020, there was just over 18,000 female farm holders (or 13.4%) compared to 17,345 (or 12.4%) in 2010.
Between 1991 and 2020, the percentage share of male farm holders reduced from 90.3% to 86.6%.

Table 3.1 Gender and age of the farm holder (1991 – 2020)

X-axis label	< 35	35 - 44	45 - 54	55 - 64	65 +
1991	22447	33752	37013	38030	38651
2000	18382	30780	36332	27805	28043
2010	8683	24562	34614	35058	36639
2020	9338	18701	29616	33247	44135

The age profile of farm holders has changed over the last 30 years, and there are now fewer farm holders under the age of 45 and considerably more aged 65 or over.
In 2020, almost one third of all farm holders were aged 65 or over compared to just above one fifth in 1991.
In 1991, 33.1% of farm holders were under the age of 45, whereas in 2020 this age group represented 20.8% of all farm holders.
The proportion of farm holders under 35 has been falling consistently since 1991 but there was a slight increase in the proportion in this youngest age category between 2010 and 2020, from 6.2% to 6.9%.

Table 3.2 Distribution of farm holders by age and gender, 2010 and 2020

X-axis label	Female	Male
< 35	78.6	1.9
35 - 44	1.1	-26.3
45 - 54	-9.4	-15.1
55 - 64	-6.3	-5
65 +	13.8	21.8

The number of male farm holders fell by 5,275 between 2010 and 2020. This comprised of a decrease of 12,057 in the age groups from 35 to 64, balanced by an increase of 6,628 for those aged 65 or over.
There was also a small increase of 154 in the number of male farm holders aged under 35.
The number of female farm holders increased by 756 between 2010 and 2020. The number aged under 35 increased by 501, and the number aged 65 or over increased by 868.
The number of female farm holders fell in the age groups between 45 and 64 years.

Gender in 2020

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The percentage of female farm holders varied from 10.4% in Monaghan to 16.0% in Mayo.
There were seven counties where over 14% of the farm holders were female, these include; Mayo, Leitrim, Waterford, Sligo, Kerry, Wicklow and Cork.
There were seven counties where less than 12% of the farm holders were female, these include; Monaghan, Kilkenny, Cavan, Laois, Westmeath, Offaly and Carlow.

Table 3.3: Gender of the holder by region and county, 2020

X-axis label	Female	Male
Less than 10ha	18.8960716061661	81.1039283938339
10 - 20ha	14.9034724021767	85.0965275978233
20 - 30ha	12.7505979560774	87.2494020439226
30 - 50ha	10.6994232313645	89.3005767686355
50 - 100ha	8.98364308502557	91.0163569149744
100ha +	9.24255319148936	90.7574468085106

The percentage of male farm holders was greater for the larger farm sizes when compared to smaller farm sizes in 2020; approximately 91% of the farm holders for farms above 50 hectares were male. Almost 20% of farm holders on farms less than 10 hectares were female.
The percentage of male farm holders was lower for all other smaller size classes; 89.3% for 30 – 50 hectares, 87.2% for 20 – 30 hectares, 85.1% for 10 – 20 hectares and 81.1% for less than 10 hectares.

Table 3.4 Gender of the holder by farm size, 2020

X-axis label	Female	Male
Mixed Field Crops	23.6627301146231	76.3372698853769
Other	19.6730552423901	80.3269447576099
Specialist Sheep	17.1379409234299	82.8620590765701
Specialist Beef Production	12.5028654647447	87.4971345352553
Specialist Tillage	11.8896430917451	88.1103569082549
Mixed Grazing Livestock	10.0376116596145	89.9623883403855
Mixed Crops and Livestock	9.9488345650938	90.0511654349062
Specialist Dairying	7.80077028526666	92.1992297147333

The highest proportion of female farm holders were on Mixed Field Crops (23.7%), Other (19.7%) and Specialist Sheep (17.1%) farms.
The lowest proportion of female farm holders (7.8%) was on Specialist Dairying farms.
For the remaining farm types, Specialist Beef Production, Specialist Tillage, Mixed Grazing Livestock, and Mixed Crops and Livestock, female farm holders accounted for 12.5%, 11.9%, 10.0% and 9.9% of farm holders respectively.

Table 3.5 Gender of the holder by farm type, 2020

Age in 2020

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The average age of the farm holder in 2020 was 57, and in general farm holders are older in the West and in smaller, non-dairy farms.

The counties of the West NUTS3 region, Sligo and Dublin had the largest average age of farm holder in the state.
Galway and Mayo had the largest average ages of 59 years 2 months and 59 years 1 month, followed by Sligo (58 years 8 months), Dublin (58 years 6 months) and Roscommon (58 years 5 months).
Cork and Tipperary were the only counties with an average age less than 56 years, average age was 55 years 6 months in Cork and was just below 56 years in Tipperary.
Eleven of the remaining counties had an average age between 56 and 57 years of age.

Table 3.6 Average age of the farm holder by region and county, 2020

X-axis label	Average Age of Holder
Less than 10ha	59.0720324
10 - 20ha	58.9735035
20 - 30ha	57.7474668
30 - 50ha	56.0983792
50 - 100ha	53.723401
100ha +	53.994383

Farm holders were younger on average on larger farms than small farms.
Typically, farm holders for farms less than 20 hectares in size were approximately 59 years of age.
Average age of the farm holder was between 56 and 58 years for farms between 20 and 50 hectares and was 54 years of age or lower on average for farms above 50 hectares.

Table 3.7 Average age of the farm holder by farm size, 2020

X-axis label	Average Age of Holder
Mixed Field Crops	59.7651962
Specialist Beef Production	58.3379226
Specialist Tillage	56.630173
Mixed Crops and Livestock	56.3433769
Other	56.3049605
Mixed Grazing Livestock	56.2060414
Specialist Sheep	56.1513622
Specialist Dairying	52.0359031

Farm holders were youngest on Specialist Dairying farms with an average age of 52 years.
On five of the other farm types, Specialist Tillage, Mixed Crops and Livestock, Other, Mixed Grazing Livestock, and Specialist Sheep, farm holders were 56 years old on average.
The oldest farm holders in 2020 were found on Specialist Beef Production and Mixed Field Crops farms with average ages of 58 and 59 years respectively.

Table 3.8 Average age of the farm holder by farm type, 2020

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Table 3.1 Gender and age of the farm holder (1991 - 2020)
Characteristics of holder	1991		2000		2010		2020
Characteristics of holder	farms	%	farms	%	farms	%	farms	%
Gender
Male	153,479	90.3	126,243	89.3	122,211	87.6	116,936	86.6
Female	16,414	9.7	15,099	10.7	17,345	12.4	18,101	13.4

Age
under 35 years	22,447	13.2	18,382	13.0	8,683	6.2	9,338	6.9
35 - 44 years	33,752	19.9	30,780	21.8	24,562	17.6	18,701	13.8
45 - 54 years	37,013	21.8	36,332	25.7	34,614	24.8	29,616	21.9
55 - 64 years	38,030	22.4	27,805	19.7	35,058	25.1	33,247	24.6
65 + years	38,651	22.8	28,043	19.8	36,639	26.3	44,135	32.7

Table 3.2 Distribution of farm holders by age and gender, 2010 and 2020
Age of holder	Male Holders				Female Holders
Age of holder	2010	2020	change	% change	2010	2020	change	% change
All	122,211	116,936	-5,275	-4.3	17,345	18,101	756	4.4
< 35 years	8,046	8,200	154	1.9	637	1,138	501	78.6
35 - 44 years	22,383	16,498	-5,885	-26.3	2,179	2,203	24	1.1
45 - 54 years	30,831	26,189	-4,642	-15.1	3,783	3,427	-356	-9.4
55 - 64 years	30,612	29,082	-1,530	-5.0	4,446	4,165	-281	-6.3
65 + years	30,339	36,967	6,628	21.8	6,300	7,168	868	13.8

Table 3.3 Gender of the holder by region and county, 2020
Region and County	Female Holders		Male Holders		Total
Region and County	number	%	number	%	Total
State	18,101	13.4	116,936	86.6	135,037

Northern and Western	7,876	13.7	49,412	86.3	57,288
Border	3,435	12.9	23,127	87.1	26,562
Cavan	574	11.2	4,537	88.8	5,111
Donegal	1,254	13.4	8,093	86.6	9,347
Leitrim	535	15.5	2,910	84.5	3,445
Monaghan	467	10.4	4,011	89.6	4,478
Sligo	605	14.5	3,576	85.5	4,181

West	4,441	14.5	26,285	85.5	30,726
Galway	1,755	13.8	10,962	86.2	12,717
Mayo	1,902	16.0	10,018	84.0	11,920
Roscommon	784	12.9	5,305	87.1	6,089

Southern	7,197	13.5	46,271	86.5	53,468
Mid-West	2,526	13.1	16,805	86.9	19,331
Clare	847	13.5	5,450	86.5	6,297
Limerick	735	13.1	4,895	86.9	5,630
Tipperary	944	12.7	6,460	87.3	7,404

South-East	1,586	13.0	10,640	87.0	12,226
Carlow	202	11.7	1,521	88.3	1,723
Kilkenny	393	11.0	3,180	89.0	3,573
Waterford	385	14.8	2,215	85.2	2,600
Wexford	606	14.0	3,724	86.0	4,330

South-West	3,085	14.1	18,826	85.9	21,911
Cork	1,927	14.1	11,777	85.9	13,704
Kerry	1,158	14.1	7,049	85.9	8,207

Eastern and Midland	3,028	12.5	21,253	87.5	24,281
Mid-East and Dublin	1,569	13.3	10,257	86.7	11,826
Dublin	92	13.2	607	86.8	699
Kildare	322	12.7	2,212	87.3	2,534
Louth	208	12.8	1,421	87.2	1,629
Meath	601	13.3	3,907	86.7	4,508
Wicklow	346	14.1	2,110	85.9	2,456

Midland	1,459	11.7	10,996	88.3	12,455
Laois	361	11.3	2,842	88.7	3,203
Longford	315	12.5	2,200	87.5	2,515
Offaly	384	11.6	2,916	88.4	3,300
Westmeath	399	11.6	3,038	88.4	3,437

Table 3.4 Gender of the holder by farm size, 2020
Farm size	Female Holder		Male Holder		Total
Farm size	number	%	number	%	Total
All	18,101	13.4	116,936	86.6	135,037
< 10 hectares	5,320	18.9	22,834	81.1	28,154
10 - 20 hectares	4,601	14.9	26,271	85.1	30,872
20 - 30 hectares	2,932	12.8	20,063	87.2	22,995
30 - 50 hectares	2,931	10.7	24,463	89.3	27,394
50 - 100 hectares	1,774	9.0	17,973	91.0	19,747
100 + hectares	543	9.2	5,332	90.8	5,875

Table 3.5 Gender of the holder by farm type, 2020
Farm type	Female		Male		Total
Farm type	number	%	number	%	Total
All	18,101	13.4	116,936	86.6	135,037
Specialist Tillage	543	11.9	4,024	88.1	4,567
Specialist Dairying	1,195	7.8	14,124	92.2	15,319
Specialist Beef Production	9,272	12.5	64,887	87.5	74,159
Specialist Sheep	2,988	17.1	14,447	82.9	17,435
Mixed Grazing Livestock	854	10.0	7,654	90.0	8,508
Mixed Crops and Livestock	175	9.9	1,584	90.1	1,759
Mixed Field Crops	2,725	23.7	8,791	76.3	11,516
Other	349	19.7	1,425	80.3	1,774

Census of Agriculture 2020 - Preliminary Results

Demographic Profile of Farm Holders

Gender and Age (1991 - 2020)

Gender in 2020

Age in 2020

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Table 3.6 Average age of the farm holder by region and county, 2020
Region and County	Average age of the holder
Region and County	mean	median
State	57.2	57.0

Northern and Western	58.0	58.0
Border	57.0	57.0
Cavan	56.4	57.0
Donegal	56.6	56.0
Leitrim	57.9	59.0
Monaghan	56.0	56.0
Sligo	58.7	59.0

West	59.0	60.0
Galway	59.2	60.0
Mayo	59.1	60.0
Roscommon	58.4	59.0

Southern	56.3	56.0
Mid-West	56.6	57.0
Clare	57.3	58.0
Limerick	56.8	57.0
Tipperary	56.0	56.0

South-East	56.2	56.0
Carlow	57.0	57.0
Kilkenny	56.0	56.0
Waterford	56.3	56.0
Wexford	56.0	56.0

South-West	56.0	56.0
Cork	55.5	55.0
Kerry	56.8	57.0

Eastern and Midland	57.3	58.0
Mid-East and Dublin	57.8	58.0
Dublin	58.5	59.0
Kildare	57.9	58.0
Louth	58.0	58.0
Meath	57.9	58.0
Wicklow	57.3	57.0

Midland	56.9	57.0
Laois	56.3	56.0
Longford	57.4	58.0
Offaly	56.4	56.0
Westmeath	57.5	58.0