Michael Noonan
Question:39 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his plans to put incentives for land leasing in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20695/02]
Written Answers. - Land Leasing.
One of the key requirements for full-time farmers is to increase their farm size. As only a minute proportion of land is sold each year, land leasing is the main option for farmers wishing to increase farm size and to improve viability. It is essential however that leases are available for the medium to long-term rather than on conacre thus allowing farmers to plan for the future.
The agri-food 2010 report recommends that tax incentives should be introduced for intra-family farm leases where the lessor is a participant in the early retirement scheme. The committee also recommended that €2,540 of rental income is exempted from the means test for the non-contributory old age pensions and other social welfare benefits. The programme for Government also contains a commitment to give urgent consideration to the potential for tax incentives for long-term leasing of land as a means of increasing the supply of land available to young farmers. Currently land leasing is mainly encouraged by the early retirement scheme which allows retiring farmers transfer their land by lease and the rural environment protection scheme which is payable on land leased in by farmers.