Farmers surviving on lower incomes
The farming families have been warned that their time must be "profitably" used if they are to continue to earn a living from the land during the current price squeeze hitting farming even this may still not be sufficient to bring them on a par with the income of their neighbours.
"Time is a limiting factor. You must make it pay. If you don't, you end up paying for it," Teagasc adviser, Terry Cunningham warned, following a study of the income requirements of 20 south Tipperary farm families.
The study showed that if farmers are to have the same standard of living as their non-farming neighbours and friends, an income of E50,000 per annum would be required for a family of five, comprising the parents and three children.
Analysis of typical farming families showed that, on average, they require a 25% increase on their current living allowances to match the standards of their non-farming friends.
Therefore, farming families make do without many of the benefits which many non-farming families enjoy, such as annual holidays, a second car, central heating, mobile phones, a more active social life, and pension provision.
Ms Cunningham says that to achieve an income of E40,000, while working the typical week of non-farming families, a farm family would need to earn E20 per hour, on average.
"If you have to work excessively long hours to get your E40,000, then it follows that your standard of living and family life is poor to begin with", she says in a summary i
Writing in Today's Farm magazine, for Teagasc clients, she says: "You may have solved the income problem, but you are now suffering from a quality of life problem. Worse still is where you work very long hours, but still do not earn the E40,000 that is needed".
The study revealed that many farming families were unaware of their living costs, and they were advised to list their expenditure regularly.
Terry says: "The real challenge every farm family has to try to solve is the best way to use all the family's resources (land, labour, buildings, skills, location, etc) to make sufficient household income, while, at the same time, not getting over-worked and over-stressed. Not easy, but every family must begin looking at the problem in this way and plan accordingly"
