As Irish farmer Jim McCarthy enters the small town café about an hour outside Dublin, local farmers acknowledge him with a nod. There are no warm welcomes, just courteous signs of recognition.
The cell phone-toting, cigar chain-smoking McCarthy settles in by the window and glances out at the street. He has no illusions about his popularity.
“So many people see me as an outsider,” he says. “The average farmer around here is waiting for me to go broke.”
By Irish standards, McCarthy of Castledermot, in County Kildare, is a huge farmer.
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From 12 acres in 1983, he has expanded to 2,500 acres of wheat, oats and barley in a country where the average farm size is 40 acres.
McCarthy is a unique operator. He rents land from 23 landowners and his farmland is spread over an 80-kilometre area. He believes everything should be rented or leased, including his land, his machinery, his farm truck and the house he lives in with his family.
McCarthy keeps extensive records of the land he rents, the people he hires, and the costs and profits related to each. Items that cut into profits are eliminated with little sentiment. Last winter, he began selling his 160-cow herd.
“Businesses like ours are very much frowned upon,” he admits. Nonetheless, he would expand if he could find more land.
McCarthy owes some of his success to European Union subsidies. He receives the equivalent of about $202 (Cdn) for every acre he farms. He believes he wouldn’t break even without the subsidies.
“I farm in Europe. It’s the only game in town. If they (the subsidies) were taken away tomorrow, I’d survive, but my landowners wouldn’t. They depend on me.”
Martin Whelan, an agricultural policy officer with the Young Farmers Association, also recognizes the importance of EU subsidies to farmers.
He believes that if Ireland didn’t have quotas or subsidies, rural areas would be devastated.
“Sixty to 70 percent of farmers would be out of business, completely wiped out,” he says.
Whelan thinks the average farm in Ireland is too small to be viable.
While the average industrial wage after taxes is equivalent to $28,560 (Cdn) per year, the average farming wage equals about $16,800. The average farm income dropped 12 percent in 1999 but was expected to increase by 16 percent by 2002 as farms become larger.
Whelan is particularly worried about the country’s young farmers, including himself.
“Farmers under 35 represent less than 11 percent of the population.” Ten years ago, they were 15 percent.
“Farming has a very bad perception among young people. It is seen as drudgery, hardships and isolation.
“If income is declining every year … living in isolation with a lack of social services, it is bleak and they will scatter.”
