Almost 95,000 farms earning less than €20,000

Paying a basic income payment of €10,000 to each of these farms would cost about €950m, Dáil told

In 2024, Irish farmers received more than €2.11bn in payments.

Paying €10,000 extra to each Irish farmer earning less than €20,000 would cost a total of about €950m.

This arose in the Dáil when People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Richard Boyd Barrett asked the agriculture minister the estimated full-year cost of paying a basic income payment of €10,000 to small farmers with annual farm income of €20,000 or less.

Responding to the Dún Laoghaire TD’s written question, Martin Heydon said 53% of farms, or 46,603 farms, earned a family farm income of less than €20,000 in 2024.

This information comes from the Central Statistics Office Farm Structure Survey 2023, which indicated there were 133,174 farms in Ireland, with an average farm size of 34.7 hectares. This comprises a mix of full- and part-time farmers.

The 2024 Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) represents about 88,000 of those farms (only farms with a standard output of more than €8,000 a year are included in the NFS).

Additionally, there are smaller farms that are not covered by the NFS (because their output is less than €8,000 a year). These farms are surveyed periodically, and according to the Teagasc Small Farms Report 2022, there are 48,356 such family farms.

Taking into account NFS 2024 and NFS Small Farms Report 2022 findings, 94,959 farms have family farm income of less than €20,000, according to the minister.

Paying a basic income payment of €10,000 to each would be about €950m, with the caveat this figure is based on survey data from different surveys in different years, subject to different assumptions.

Also, the minister’s reply said it was important to note family farm income was not equivalent to household income, which may include off-farm income, either through off-farm employment, a pension, or other social assistance.

The NFS Small Farms Report 2022 indicated 83% of small farm households had an off-farm income source, while National Farm Survey 2024 data indicated 86% of farms had an off-farm income.

Mr Heydon noted Ireland’s €9.8bn Common Agriculture Policy 2023-2027 strategic plan includes the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), and the Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability (CRISS), designed to redistribute CAP funds from larger farms to medium- and smaller-sized farms.

In 2024, Irish farmers received more than €2.11bn in payments. The NFS 2024 results indicated average direct payments of €21,388 to those farms covered by the NFS.