Farmers' investment plans focus on buildings and machinery

Farmers are planning to invest €612m in their businesses this year with building and machinery topping the spending lists, a survey revealed today.

A study carried out among over a thousand farms revealed farmers aim to invest €612m – 71% more than their predicted spending last year.

The Teagasc National Farm Survey showed the farming sector often underestimates the amount it will spend with the study estimating actual investment could be in the region of €1bn.

Teagasc Researcher, Anne Kinsella, said: “The survey showed planned investment in land for 2006 at €242m.

“But again this figure could be exceeded, because farmers planned to invest just €42m in land last year whereas the actual investment in 2005 was €125m.”

The average planned investment by an individual farm was around €26,240, compared with a planned investment of €15,291 in 2005.

Farmers are planning to spend more on buildings due to the reintroduction of the farm waste management scheme and concerns with compliance regulations.

Predicted investment in farm buildings increased from €167m for the 2005 year to €261m this year.

Farmers plan to invest €85m on machinery during 2006. But the Teagasc study has previously revealed farmers generally underestimate their planned spending on machinery.

Last year, the planned investment was €105m but the actual sum spent was €288m.

The survey put the substantial increase in planned land investment down to several factors, including Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) on land for road building and lands sold for development.

“With premium prices received for these lands and sites sold, farmers are in a position to invest substantially to replace this land,” Ms Kinsella said.

Investment in milk quota was €24m in 2005, compared with projected investment of €29m. But the planned investment for this year is far lower at €16m.