Teagasc helps farmers boost earnings

KERRY dairy farmers have gone €8,000 per year ahead in income by working closely with Teagasc to develop a businesslike approach to budgets and cost control.

The Teagasc/Kerry Agri Business Joint Programme, “Focus on Profit”, has helped participants to reduce their operating costs to only 48% of cash receipts. Farmers taking part in the programme since it started achieved this financial performance in 2002, despite the difficult farming conditions of that year.

In contrast, farmers who only recently entered the advice programme had operating costs averaging 60% of cash receipts in 2002.