The Tyner Family: Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Farm

Colin Tyner

Janet Tyner

Sophie Tyner

Peter Lawrence

The Tyner family has been farming this block of land just outside Shillelagh in Co. Wicklow for four generations.  The farm was originally purchased by John Tyner and has passed through the generations.  It is now owned by Colin and Janet Tyner.  Their daughter, Sophie, who is the youngest of three siblings, is next in line to take over the mantle of managing the farm into the next generation.  Consisting of 120ha of land, it is farmed as a beef, sheep and tillage farm, with the grain retained for home feeding and all progeny brought to slaughter.

Colin and Janet got married in 1985 when Colin was 24 years old.  Up until then he had been working on the farm alongside his father, who, at that stage made most of the day-to-day decisions in relation to the farming business.  Following Colin and Janets marriage, half of the farm was transferred to them as a lifetime gift, with the remaining half of the farm retained by his father and mother (one quarter owned by each respectively).  The structure of the land ownership was as tenants in common.  This means that each party held a distinct share of the farm, but unlike joint tenancy, there is no right of survivorship, and an owner’s share passes through their will or intestacy on death.  Colin fondly remembers that prior to the land transfer, when he arrived in the farmyard in the morning, his father would outline the jobs that they would be doing that day but on the first morning once it was transferred, he asked Colin, “You are in charge now, what are we doing today?”.  From then onward, Colin’s father remained an integral part of the farm and worked alongside Colin and Janet but allowed them to make the decisions and plans in relation to the management of the farm while also offering support and advice when needed.

Colin and Janet have three children.  Meghan, the eldest, is a teacher and is married with a family of her own.  Second was Craig, who works in the area of information technology.  Craig has always been happy to help out on the farm when needed but never saw it as a long-term option as his interests lie elsewhere. The youngest child, Sophie, on the other hand, always had an interest in Agriculture and farming.  She graduated with a degree in Agricultural Science from UCD in 2016 and subsequently commenced working within the industry in Northern Ireland for eight years.  In 2018, with Sophie working in Northern Ireland, Colin and Janet were unsure if there would be any of the family to farm the land and they started to make changes to simplify the system and reduce the workload on the farm.  The suckler herd was reduced significantly, and the sheep enterprise was all but disbanded.

On the passing of Colin’s father Jack, his quarter of the farm was inherited by Colin.  His mother, Irene, passed away in 2021 and her remaining quarter also passed to Colin by inheritance – meaning that Colin now retained the ownership of the entire farm in his sole name.  In 2023, Sophie made the decision to return home to Wicklow and commenced working for Grassland Agro, now leading a team of five advisors, providing technical nutrient management advice to farmers.  Following her return home, Sophie moved into the old farmhouse and has taken on a significant role in the operations on the farm.  Over a period of time, the long-term future of the farm was discussed, and a decision was made that Sophie was the identified farming successor.  She was delighted with this decision and was thrilled with the opportunity to make her mark on the business.  Colin and Janet called a family meeting to discuss this with the whole family.  They are in the fortunate position that there are other assets that can be passed on to Meghan and Craig in the form of the main dwelling house and two holiday cottages that are currently rented out.  This ensured that all children would receive an inheritance, although not of the same monetary value.  The three siblings get on remarkably well, which is something that the family are all very proud of, and rightly so.

In January 2025, Colin, Janet and Sophie formed a Registered Farm Partnership (RFP) together with a succession farm partnership.  The RFP allowed Sophie, as a young, trained farmer, to apply for the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers, which has resulted in an annual payment of close to €8,000 per year for a maximum of five years as they are farming over 50ha.  They also had their TAMS ceiling increased to €160,000 (versus €90,000 as a sole trader), with the first €90,000 at the 60% rate as Sophie meets the young farmers eligibility requirements.  The Succession plan requires that 80% of the farming assets are transferred to Sophie before the end of the tenth year of the succession plan.  In exchange for this, the partners within the partnership will receive a €5,000 per year tax credit that is divided in line with the profit-sharing ratio of the partnership.  This can be used against farming and off farm income, which is particularly useful for Sophie as she is also engaged in off farm employment.

More recently, with Sophie and her partner Daryls’ involvement in the future of the farm formally cemented into long term plans, changes have been made to the farming system.  The sheep enterprise has been reestablished with 100 lowland ewes lambed this year.  Some calves are contract reared as part of the Buitelaar programme; this has allowed the livestock numbers to increase on the farm without having to make the initial financial investment in the purchase of the livestock – something that can be very useful for those starting out.  Good use has been made of the TAMS funding with investment made in 2025 for a new cattle crush, sheep weighing and handling facilities and a GPS controlled fertiliser spreader – with a focus on labour efficiency and farm safety to the forefront of the Tyner’s minds.

This family are a closely bonded unit.  During Covid times they grew sunflowers on the farm and invited people to come and pick them with no charge but a request to make a donation in the charity box at the exit.  To date they have raised over €90,000 for charity which is a remarkable achievement.  This money made its way to the Irish Cancer Society, Wicklow hospice and other local charities.  Once again, in 2026 they ran a ‘pick-your-own’ sunflower event over the August bank holiday with all donations made to worthy causes.

Long term, the plan is that the land will be transferred to Sophie, throughout the course of the succession plan, but it is envisaged that Colin and Janet will remain actively involved in the farm’s activities through the RFP structure, just like Colin’s father did with them.

The above first appeared in Securing the Future of Irish Farms: Approaches for Generation Renewal (PDF), produced as part of Teagasc Generational Renewal Week 2026.