Modest rise in average income

THE average family farm income rose by two per cent in Ireland last year, to an average of under €24,000.

The modest rise in 2019 has been attributed to a number of factors, with better weather conditions proving beneficial for production.

Lower output prices, however, were experienced in some sectors, according to the report carried out by Teagasc.

The results were published in the 2019 edition of the Teagasc National Farm Survey and represent more than 90,000 Irish farms.

The results followed on from an extremely difficult 2018, during which production costs soared, partly due to exceptionally unfavourable weather conditions.

Market conditions, however, led to a reduction in output prices, particularly keen for cattle and cereal crops. The price of milk also experienced a drop. Some of 2019’s difficulties, however, were offset by supports such as the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) and the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme (BEEP).

The dairy sector had its biggest drop in costs in 2019. Average income increased by almost 10 per cent to €66,570, despite milk prices dropping by three per cent last year.

BEAM support and lower costs of production helped to bring about an 11-per-cent rise in average income in the Cattle Rearing system, despite lower cattle prices.

In the ‘Cattle Other’ system – mainly beef-finishing farms but also including farms selling store cattle – average income decreased by six per cent, despite several factors being in the sector’s favour.

A significant drop in finished cattle prices accounted for much of this drop.

This followed weaker-than-usual demand for beef in both the EU and UK export markets, and a decline in the Sterling versus the Euro.

The sheep system did not experience as large a fall in output rices, while the cost of production and BEAM receipts aided a nine-per-cent rise in average income to €14,604.

Tillage also saw much-improved production conditions in 2019, resulting in higher crop yields.

There was, however a large drop in cereal prices, which wiped out the benefits of those higher yields, with average income plummeting by 15 per cent to less than €35,000.

The survey in full is available to view on the Teagasc website, www.teagasc.ie.