Fewer farmers surviving on less money
The flight from the land is continuing while those who remain are trying to make ends meet on a dinimished income.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that 55,000 poeple have left full time farming over the past ten years, although some 30,000 remain as part-time farmers.
Meanwhile, the average farm income has fallen by over 8% - and now stands at less than €16,000, compared to the average industrial wage of €26,000.
IFA economist Con Lucey is blaming a number of factors.
He said: "The main factors behind it were drops in prices for a number of the main commodities, milk prices, pigs, grain, sheep were all down."
"Of course in addition to the bad prices, the other big factor this year was the bad weather and that had two impacts - it increased costs to farmers and also depressed the volume of output in a number of sectors."