Friday, May 11, 2007

Boom time for farm owners

The things you stumble onto when you're idly 'surfing' the night away. According to this article in the Farmer's Guardian (no, I never heard of it either) Irish farmers are so wealthy these days they're driving up the price of land in Scotland.
Agricultural land values in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have gradually soared with prices of £15,000 per acre not unheard of. European investment and attractive tax regulations for businesses has greatly increased the economy in the Republic, while a more settled political environment in Northern Ireland has led to strong investment from external sources.

… The number of Irish farmers looking to buy in Scotland has increased threefold in the past six months and with prices for development land in Ireland showing no signs of slowing, along with a lack of supply of farms for sale on the Scottish market, buyers will continue to outnumber sellers by 20:1, with Irish buyers to the fore.
We're not in Cavan anymore, Toto.

I can't wait to hear the head of the IFA on the radio complaining about the cost of air fares making it difficult for poor Irish farmers to manage their Scottish holdings.