Average farm income up 6%... but this is not a pretty picture

Dairy farmers’ incomes are healthy. Income on sheep and cattle farms is anything but. Cereal farms come in between.

hat’s the summary of Teagasc’s National Farm Survey of 80,000 farms (it does not very small farms, nor farms with pigs, poultry, horses, horticulture).

Ireland’s 15,700 dairy farmers had an average family income from dairying of almost €69,000 in 2014, an increase of 9% on 2013, and the highest level ever. Despite quotas, milk supplies were up 3%, while costs, particularly for feeding, were down.