Nearly as many young Irish farmers are still undecided on how they will vote in the Nice Treaty referendum as will be voting Yes, according to a Macra na Feirme survey.
The survey, carried out by the young farmers' organisation and the FBD insurance group, found that 40 per cent will be voting Yes and 18 per cent would vote No.
It also found, however, that 39 per cent of the 102 young people surveyed, have yet to decide how they will be voting in the rerun of the referendum and that 3 per cent said they would not vote.
The survey, released yesterday by the farm organisation, was carried out to determine the main concerns of young farmers during this difficult but crucial year in farming, polling participants in the FBD Young Farmer of the Future competition.
The president of Macra, Mr Seamus Phelan, said yesterday the survey had indicated to the Government that there was no room for complacency regarding the Nice Treaty campaign.
"In the survey 39 per cent of the respondents said they were still undecided. Therefore, there is clearly a lot more to be done by the Department of Agriculture to secure a Yes vote from Ireland's young farmers," he said.
"With only 3 per cent of respondents indicating they won't vote in the Nice referendum, it is clear that Ireland's young farmers are politically aware, especially in regard to EU issues, and this contrasts with the rising trend for political apathy among young people in this country generally."
In a related question, the survey found that 72 per cent of the young farmers did not believe the proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Policy would benefit Irish agriculture.
A total of 19 per cent of the sample said the Fischler proposals were "a major cause of concern".
However, a huge percentage of the farmers, all aged under 35, believe that stress and/or depression is a concern for young people in rural areas.
In total, 62 per cent of them said not enough was being done to address the problem, a finding described as "very worrying" by Mr Phelan.
"Stress and depression are being recognised as areas of major concern in rural areas, relating as they do to the rise of suicide in rural Ireland, particularly amongst young men," he said.
"While these problems are by no means restricted to rural Ireland, I believe it can have a particularly daunting effects in remote areas of the country where help may be more difficult to find."
Mr Phelan said Macra was calling on the Government to take immediate measures to tackle this problem as a matter of urgency.
Other issues covered by the survey found that 70 per cent of those surveyed had no off-farm income and 60 per cent of these were farmers in their own right.
A total of 29 per cent of the young farmers said production costs were a major worry for them, expansion opportunities were of great concern to 27 per cent of them and 66 per cent said they would take land if it became more frequently available to them arising from the early retirement scheme.