The long-term future for agriculture is bleak unless it can attract its fair share of well-educated, able school-leavers in the future, the head of Teagasc, Dr Liam Downey, has warned.
Dr Downey said that the number of school-leavers will fall by about 2,000 per year for the next 15 years, from 75,000 at present to 50,000 by the year 2010.
"Agriculture and horticulture will have to compete for labour in this shrinking pool. With increasing numbers of places in third-level institutes and increased job opportunities, the agricultural industry must be careful that it does not become a ghetto for the least able and least motivated people," he said.
Dr Downey said that Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, had projected that the annual number of entrants to full-time farming between 1998 and 2005 will be 800, with a further 1,200 young people per year going into part-time farming.
"The fixation with full-time farming as the only way to safeguard rural Ireland is outdated. The new agenda must be focused on the production of the maximum number of rural householders.
"This will be done through a combination of highly efficient farming, both full-time and parttime, and off-farm sources of income," said Dr Downey. He expressed concern about the large number of young people going into careers in agriculture without completing the Leaving Certificate.
While over 80 per cent of those entering agricultural and horticultural colleges have done the Leaving Certificate, the figure for those entering courses at local Teagasc centres is less than 50 per cent, he said. He advocated an investment of £2 million per year over the next five years to bring facilities up to an acceptable level.