Farmers swap cowsheds for condominiums
From Florida to the Black Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, they are leading the way in snapping up property overseas.
Poor returns from agriculture have resulted in thousands doing their sums and deciding that they would make more money buying apartments, offices and even golf courses overseas than from the land.
They are increasingly cashing in on their number one asset - land - which gives them tremendous leverage to borrow money.
Consultancy
More than 100 Irish farmers have now got together to buy into a $200m (?157,000) championship golf course and 550 condominiums in Florida. Specialist Irish company Farrelly and Mitchell, which is brokering the deal, runs an investment consultancy specifically to help farmers diversify.
The soaring land prices of the last three years mean that the average farm of 90 acres is now worth millions, said company director Malachy Mitchell.
"Incomes are under pressure, yet many farmers are sitting on a farm worth several million."
Current average farmland prices range from ?15,000 to ?50,000 per acre, and this can rise much higher if the land has clear development potential, he said.
The Single Farm Payment, which was no longer linked to the amount of food produced, also made it easier to diversify, while banks were more willing than ever before to lend against their farms.
Australia
Irish farmers have been snapping up property in Australia, New Zealand, Antigua, Florida, South Africa, Newfoundland, Cape Verde Islands, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, UK, France, Spain, China and Brazil.
Some very high-profile farmers have jumped ship. John Boylan, who ran for president of the Irish Farmers Association in 2001, is now selling his large dairy farm in Meath to concentrate fully on his lucrative investment portfolio.
With properties in Newfoundland, Antigua, the United States, Europe and Britain, he is one of the most successful of the new breed of farmer-capitalists.
In total, farmers borrowed a staggering ?6bn last year, and at least half of that is believed to have gone into property, most of it leveraged against existing farms.
- Aideen Sheehan
