Survey reveals farmers’ uncertainties
More than two out of every five farmers say their business is not viable enough to encourage the next generation to take it on.
This is one of the main results in the Irish Farm Report 2019, published today by Ifac, the farming, food and agribusiness professional services firm.
It canvassed the views of over 2,133 farmers, and analysed the financial accounts of 21,755 farms, for the report.
Over 80% of farmers surveyed said they have an off-farm source of income coming into the household.
However, a quarter had no pension plan in place for the farmer or their spouse.
Over 95% depended exclusively on family members to help on the farm. Only 6% had full-time farm employees.
These findings put in context other survey revelations, that 38% of beef farmers are uncertain if they will be farming five years from now, and 86% of farmers surveyed do not have a clear farm succession plan.
Even 70% of the farmers aged 65 or older still do not have a clear farm succession plan in place.
The uncertainties expressed by farmers in the survey may be largely explained by the low profitability revealed by Ifac in its analysis of farmers’ financial accounts.
This showed that the average beef farm lost €116 per hectare in 2018, before EU subsidies are taken into account.
It is a very significant finding, because the majority of Irish farms depend to some extent on beef earnings.
Farmers’ confidence may also have been shaken by the 25% average profit drop on dairy farms, usually by far the country’s most profitable sector (profit fell from €1,077/ha in 2017 to €804 in 2018, excluding EU subsidies).
Launching the report, Ifac chief executive John Donoghue said: “Our first ever Irish Farm Report contains some fascinating insights into life as a farmer in Ireland today.
“We found that while Irish farmers remain largely optimistic about the future, there are many challenges in the sector.
On a positive note, our Irish Farm Report clearly shows that farmers are ready and willing to embrace environment-friendly initiatives, and there are profits to be made in farming, subject to the right supports, market stability, financial structure and advice being in place.
The report also reveals a big gap between the best and worst performing farms, with output from the top 10% of dairy farms 40% greater than for the “average” dairy farm, and net profit €1,000/ha higher.
The top-performing 10% of beef farms were found to deliver an average profit before EU subsidies of €475/ha.
The average tillage farm was found to generate a profit of €252/ha, excluding EU subsidies, in 2018, with the profit at €466 the top 10%
