Agricultural income falls €217m

Ireland: Agricultural income (operating surplus) for 2002 declined by 8.1% or €217 million on the previous year, before deductions for interest payments and land rental, the Central Statistics Office revealed yesterday.

It said the primary reason for this reduction in income was a drop of €381m (7.7%) in the value of goods output between 2001 and 2002.

Much of this decrease was accounted for by reductions in the value of output in the cattle and milk sectors.