Fertiliser and energy drive input costs for farm businesses   

For farmers, fertiliser costs climbed 20% in December from November and were 87% more costly than in December 2020, according to CSO figures

The index of overall input costs of goods and services bought by farmers for the whole year — weighted to account for their contribution to total costs — rose by 9.3%.

Soaring fertiliser and energy prices are pushing up the input costs for farm businesses, new CSO figures confirm.

However, the figures show evidence that some of the costs are being passed on in higher agricultural prices too.