Kieran Coughlan: Farmer working 63 hours needs to earn at least €34,800

A study on the viability of the Irish farming sector in 2014 has been published by Teagasc.

Measuring how Ireland’s farmers are performing is important, given that farming is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry, with over 160,000 farmers and employees dependent on this sector.

The economic health of Ireland’s farming sector is divided into three separate classes — those farms which are economically viable, those which are economically sustainable and those which are economically vulnerable.