When Marianne McEvoy goes to discos or clubs and is asked what she does for a living, she always says she's a midwife or a veterinary nurse.
The 22-year-old never says she is a farmer, working a 100-acre dairy and beef farm in Johnstown, Co Kilkenny, with her father. "Say you're a farmer, and their mouths fall open, and they're looking to see if your hands are hard and calloused."
Reactions are similar when she goes to marts. "There are only two or three women going to marts, and the place goes quiet, and everyone's looking at you."
Women may be very much a minority in farming, yet the number of young farmers overall is dropping. Figures from Teagasc show that the current number of farmers' children of school-leaving age is 5,500. By 2010 it will be down to 2,000. Last year's farm-income figures show one in three farmers are now operating part-time. Most are beef or sheep farmers on small acreages and so "need the extra income more", a Teagasc spokesman, Mr Michael Miley, said.
From next year, however, Teagasc courses will be available through the CAO system, and the "Green Certificate" is already compulsory for young farmers, if they want to be eligible for State grants.
Michael Gowing (22), student farmer of the year in 1999, went to Rockwell Agricultural College and operates a 245 acres dairy/beef farm with his father in Portlaoise. The year he left school, out of 90 students in a rural area he was the only one who went into agriculture. He predicts farm size will soon increase dramatically. Richard Lynch (29) farms 260 acres in beef and tillage, taking over from his father in Ardee, Co Louth. He also operates a contracting business with a friend specialising in ploughing, sowing and hedge-cutting.
Most people who worked in farming have gone to the construction industry, he says. "There's too much of a hype about that, and farming can't compete and offer the same income."
