Teagasc reports €1m loss as total income tops €173m

Agriculture and food development authority Teagasc made a loss of almost €1m in 2011, after recording a surplus of €3.4m in 2010.

The 2011 Teagasc annual report and financial statements show the agency made a loss of €959,000 in 2011, compared to a surplus of €3,387,000 in 2010.

Total Teagasc income for 2011 amounted to €173.3m excluding net deferred funding for pensions. Current expenditure, excluding net deferred funding for pensions, amounted to €174.2m.

The pay package of director Gerry Boyle came to €163,000 in 2011, the same as in 2010. This included a €10,000 benefit in kind for a car in 2011.

Average farm incomes rose to €24,461 in 2011, according to the report.

It indicates that farming and the agri-food industry made steady progress during 2011, generating important economic activity in rural area and valuable export earnings for the country.

Speaking at the launch of the annual report, Teagasc chairman Noel Cawley said: “Solid science-based technical information is one of the critical foundation stones for the farming and food industry. Teagasc, through its research, education, and advisory activities, are working to support a sustainable, competitive industry as it strives to achieve the production growth targets set in Food Harvest 2020.”

In 2011 strong prices for the main farm produce, milk, beef, and grain helped to increase farm incomes, reaching an average of €24,461. In 2011, Irish agri-food and drink exports reached nearly €8.9bn accounting for almost 10% of Ireland’s exports.

Mr Cawley said that Teagasc continues to rationalise its operations through the implementation of the Teagasc Change Programme, which was agreed in 2009.

“Over the last three years changes have been successfully implemented. Up to the end of 2011, 36 offices around the country closed, and today that figure stands at 40. This reduces the number of Teagasc offices down from 91 to 51. The leasing of land for research, in Leenane in Co Galway and Ballydague in Co Cork were discontinued. Staff numbers in Teagasc have reduced from 1,574 in 2008 down to 1,189 at the end of 2011,” the report states.

Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle said that 2011 was a busy year for the organisation and that new and exciting activities were initiated.

“We have world-leading research scientists working in a numbers of fields such as animal genomics and food probiotics, to name just two. This homegrown expertise is building Ireland’s scientific reputation abroad, helping Ireland establish valuable collaborations with leading research organisations around the world. At home, our staff, despite a reduction in number, continues to deliver high-quality education courses to an increasing number of students and our advisers have grown the numbers of farmers participating in discussion groups.”

Significant activities for Teagasc during 2011 included:

* Continued growth in the number of students on agriculture courses;

* A significant increase in the number of farmers participating in discussion groups through the Dairy Efficiency Programme and the Beef Technology Adoption Programme;

* The Potato Genome Sequencing consortium, which included Teagasc, published a sequence of the potato genome;

* A second phase of the Agricultural Catchments programme, which is looking at water quality in farming areas, commenced in 2011;

* Teagasc advisers completed over 40,000 single farm payment applications on behalf of clients;

* Advisers had almost 100,000 visits or consultations with their clients;

* A new Greenfield Dairy farm was set up in West Cork;

* A Teagasc Sheep Research and Knowledge Transfer strategy was launched. This included setting up a sheep research and demonstration farm in Athenry and expanding the BETTER sheep farm programme;

* Competitive research funding of €3.6m from the Seventh EU Framework programme was secured.