Average family farm income dropped by 57% in 2023 to just under €20,000
All farm systems recorded their lowest average incomes in several years
FARMERS suffered an extensive drop in their incomes last year, a state authority has revealed.
Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority, said findings in its National Farm Survey 2023 confirmed a ‘very difficult’ year for income levels across farms in 2023. Dairy and Tillage farms, in particular, experienced steep reductions in farm income, which was largely due to a sharp decline in milk and cereal prices, and lower production volumes, in a period of ‘stubbornly high’ input prices, exacerbated by the bad weather.
Drystock farms also experienced a notable decline in income, while all farm systems recorded their lowest average incomes in several years.
The decline in dairy and tillage farm incomes follows on from a year of record incomes in 2022, illustrating yet again the highly volatile nature of farm income in both of these farm systems in Ireland, according to Teagasc.
Cattle and sheep farms saw the value of output decrease, and with production costs remaining high, incomes on drystock farms in 2023 were notably lower than in 2022.
Collectively, lower prices and production volume had a substantial negative influence on the average farm income in Ireland.
The results published in the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2023 are representative of almost 85,000 farms in Ireland.
Internationally, there was a sharp downturn in dairy commodity prices last year, which in turn affected Irish farm milk prices.
In 2023, there were some challenging weather conditions in Ireland over the second half of the year, with high levels of rainfall having an adverse impact on tillage yields, grazing conditions and silage production. As a result, tillage yields were below normal and milk production fell, as cows were dried-off early in the face of low milk margins.
Across the key farm output categories here, milk and cereal prices performed worst. Milk prices were down 28% in 2023 compared with 2022, while cereal prices decreased by 30% to 35%. Finished cattle prices increased by 4% last year, by 7% for weanlings and 5% for store cattle. By contrast, lamb prices decreased by about 3%.
Dairy system production costs, which rose by over 30% to their highest level in 2022, remained at that record level in 2023. While the dairy cow population continued to increase, milk output volume fell by 4% in the face of low profitability and challenging production conditions at the back end of last year. It resulted in an average dairy farm income of just under €49,500, a decrease of 69%, or in excess of €105,000, compared with the 2022 level.
In the cattle-rearing area, comprising farms that are mainly specialised in suckler beef production, the value of output increased by 6% in 2023, mainly due to higher cattle prices. Production costs on these farms increased by 11% on average, which was influenced by the difficult weather conditions in the second half of the year and consequent rise in feed costs.
The average value of support payments for cattle-rearing farms was up 10% on the 2022 level.
The introduction of the suckler carbon efficiency programme, national beef welfare scheme and the agri-climate rural environment scheme provides important support to incomes for farms in this system.
However, the average cattle-rearing income was just over €7,400 in 2023, down 15%, or close to €1,350, compared with the 2022 level.
The average sheep farm income was down 22%, at €12,600 in 2023, a decrease of almost €3,500 on the previous year.
Cereal farmers benefited from a range of support measures in 2023, leading to an increase in support payments of 9% on average. However, given the decline in output and the rise in production costs, the average tillage farm income was down 71%, taking the average income down to just €21,400, a decrease of over €52,000.
Taking account of the income developments across the various farm systems, the average family farm income in Ireland dropped by 57% in 2023 to just under €20,000. This decrease in the average farm income is strongly associated with the sharp decline in dairy and tillage farm incomes.
Collectively, these two sectors accounted for 53% of farm income in Ireland last year.
