Farm sales highlight agriculture optimism

Agricultural optimism which looked liked being drenched in early and late spring, rallied with the good weather to see a range of record-breaking farm sales in Co Cork.

The trend was running well anyway, with dairy herd expansion plans putting pressure on the farm sales market — and it responded.

More good quality land seems to have come up this year than in the last five, and the price per acre confirmed this. Headline-grabbing sums of €16,000 per acre were paid, and a large, 370-acre tourism development holding in Kinsale finally sold after the crash, and for a not too shabby sum either. It made just under 10k per acre, or a total of €3.465 million, and was sold to American Tupperware chief, Rick Goings, who it’s expected will continue to lease out the prime, south-Cork tillage land. The selling agents were Christy Buckley and David Ashmore of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald’s country sales department.