The effect of farmer attitudes on openness to land transactions: evidence for Ireland

Abstract

Ireland suffers from very low levels of farmland mobility by European standards. This paper examines the role of attitudes in farmers’ openness toward land transactions using a nationally representative survey of Irish farmers across the major farm systems. The results show that attitudinal factors are a significant predictor of openness to land mobility, both on the supply and demand side of the market. Additionally, there appears to be a greater demand amongst farmers for temporary land transactions such as land leasing arrangements than is currently seen in at market level.