Dr. Maura Farrell:

For me, there are so many different ways in which this can work. First, why do women get into this at all? There is the issue of work-life balance and the viability of the farm. Women can look at that broader perspective of the farm and decide to take on something much quicker than the man on the farm because there is a difficulty in the male diversifying the farm and the social and cultural thinking of the local community on that, whereas the women look at the farm and say they need more funding and more money to put their children through college, and they will diversify the farm. Those start-up funds that we think are needed via the LEADER programme or the Common Agricultural Policy can start that business, but what is also important is the scaling up of that business. We often find that women run aground when it comes to scaling up, because there is not that middle ground of microfinancing and additional scale-up funding available to women. It is available in the broader sense to anybody but women tapping into that is a different matter. We have talked to many women who have gone to banks and credit unions for increased funding for businesses and were turned down based on the fact they were not the owner of the farm, the land or the herd. The idea of them not being the property owner disallows them from accessing the funding that is vital to scaling up that farm or scaling up the business on that farm. We found that it is not in any way due to an absence of ideas.

The Deputy mentioned the mushrooms. We came across many women who set up an on-farm diversification business and would sidetrack that business into two or three different businesses to make sure it was viable. You could have a woman who is looking at accommodation on farms and has also set up a small coffee shop or production and little shop on the farm. She has many ideas to ensure the viability of that business.

However, where she often comes aground is in the scaling up of the business and the finances required to do that. Availability of finance for women on farms can be a huge problem, especially if they are not the owner of the farm or the land.