Ireland's large-scale farmers are discouraging their children from planning a full-time career in farming, the National Dairy Conference was told.
Mr Paddy Browne, assistant director of Teagasc's training and development directorate, said a noticeable feature of those attending college was a decrease in recent years in the number of children of sizeable farmers attending agricultural colleges.
"Many serious farmers, along with career guidance teachers, are discouraging their sons and daughters from planning a full- time career in farming and encouraging them to pursue a non-agricultural qualification," he said.
"Of those who do attend, there is an increasing tendency to follow a higher-level course or transfer to a higher-level course after first year or second year. Their motivation is to progress to degree level and to combine a career as a professional in the agricultural area with part-time farming," he said.
He said the decline in the numbers pursuing full-time further level courses had been counterbalanced by an increase in the number of part-time farmers availing of the part-time option at local level.
Mr Browne said there had been a marked decline in entrants to agricultural training over the past 12 years.
In 1994 there were 1,768 entrants to local centres, colleges and courses. This year, the number had fallen to 848 and there were no first-year recruits to the Advanced Certificate in farm management.
He said that the development of large-scale operations was dependent on hired labour and that would remain the way barring the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. Eastern Europeans, particularly Poles, were the main source of labour on Irish farms at present.