Bridging the generation gap on Irish farms

Podcast Ep 367: Irish farm profits face pressure from lower prices, rising costs and succession challenges, Bank of Ireland’s Mark Glennon explained at the recent National Ploughing Championships.

Irish farm businesses are heading into a tighter year after the strong returns of 2025, according to Mark Glennon, agri development manager at Bank of Ireland.

Speaking on the ThinkBusiness Podcast at the National Ploughing Championships 2026, Glennon, who covers North Leinster, Connaught and Ulster for the Bank, said the pressure was building on profits.

“We are benchmarking off a very strong base. ’25 was a brilliant year,” he said. “We’ve seen output prices reduce across a lot of the sectors. Input costs are up, and for those that are impacted by weather, it was a quite difficult spring. It was a very dry summer, so input usage is also up. So ultimately, we are going to see margin compression across a lot of farm businesses this year.”

A drought of two halves

“In the west and northwest where I cover, it has really been a brilliant year. They got rain times when other parts didn’t,” Glennon said.

The Midlands saw “more of a medium impact”. The northeast was “really impacted by the drought, similar to the southeast”, with farms there “having to put plans in place to secure sufficient fodder for the winter period.”

Ten farmers in a room

“One of the biggest challenges for the sector at the moment is the area of generation renewal and succession,” he said.

The Bank has lent to farms using the farm partnership model, which brings the older and younger generations into a shared business, “and we’ve had a very positive experience with that.

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“When we look at the statistics, I think we have 10 farmers in a room. Nine of them are over the age of 65, and one is under the age of 35. So we definitely have a demographic problem,” he said. “Ultimately, we need young blood in the sector to continue to innovate, and for the sector to continue to evolve and be vibrant into the future.”

Volatility drives exits

Glennon described economic viability as “without doubt one of the main challenges that’s there for succession”, citing an Agriland survey published during Ploughing week which found one in three farmers plan to exit their business in the next five years.

“One of the highest parameters around why they were going to exit was the whole area of income and market volatility,” he said.

His answer centres on financial planning. Farmers, he said, should “invest in their farm to lower their cost base, increase their competitiveness, and in the good years, whether it be deleverage or build up cash buffers to carry them through the more leaner, more difficult periods.”

Family handovers bring their own strain where the outgoing generation wants to stay involved and draw an income. Glennon’s advice is “to reach out for professional advice, and there is financial solutions,” including a phased approach “over a period, what we would refer as a transition period, that one generation will slowly step out, and the next generation will step in.”

Lending for the handover

Bank of Ireland agri team at the National Ploughing Championships 2026: John Fitzgerald, Susan Maher, Eoin Lowry and Mark Glennon

As “a full service pillar bank”, Bank of Ireland offers wealth management and pension structures aimed at retiring farmers. It also lends to younger farmers to “partially buy a part of the business off the exiting generation, or to invest in the farm to expand it.”

Many of those younger farmers hold jobs off the farm, and that is driving investment in automation. “An investment in areas such as automation and technology reduces the workload on that generation that has a lot of the hard yards already done,” Glennon said.

Sensors in the calving shed

Glennon speaks as a user. Asked about Moocall, the Irish-made calving sensor, he said: “I have two of them on my own farm.”

Ag tech, in his view, “has come on leaps and bounds in the last 10 years.” Labour pressures and a stronger focus on work-life balance are shaping how the next generation invests. “Ultimately it’s about what investment will allow continuity in that farm, but also provide flexibility for other parts of life.”

At the Ploughing, Bank of Ireland and Google demonstrated AI tools built around “using your own data to make better management decisions.” The two companies are also offering free AI training leading to a Google professional certificate.

Glennon’s advice to farmers is “to start out with the basics and use it for a few things,” such as “taking a picture of a can of spray and asking the rate per hectare.”

“I’d really encourage farmers who are interested to give it a try, even for basic needs in their business.”