Facilitating and Encouraging Older Farmers to Retire – Case Study
Formally retiring from farming can be described as a recent phenomenon as the traditional agrarian culture of resilience resulted in many farmers continuing to work into old age. As ownership and management of significant tracts of farmland remained in the control of the older generation, the entry of younger trained farmers was delayed or sometimes denied altogether. Policy makers concerned with the age profile of farmers recognise the need to encourage the planned transfer of assets and to offer alternatives to the traditional route of inheritance. Schemes such as the Early Retirement (ERS) and Installation Aid for young farmers have been quite successful in encouraging farmers to retire but little is known about the extent to which farmers have actually adjusted to the concept of retirement. This case study explores the experience of retirement for farmers who retired through the ERS.
