Cattle prices the main driver to 12% increase in 2025 agricultural output
CSO named cattle as one of the main drivers of agricultural output in 2025.
Cattle prices have been listed as the main driver that increased Ireland’s 2025 agricultural output, which increased by 12%.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) report ‘Output, Input and Income in Agriculture - Final Estimate 2025’ reported the increase in 2025 output growing to a total of €14bn, an increase of €1.4bn.
The main driver of the higher value of agricultural outputs was cattle prices. While cattle volumes were down 5%, prices were up 43%, resulting in their value increasing by €1.1bn to €4.2bn. Cattle accounted for 30% of the total value of agricultural output in 2025.
The total value of livestock grew by 25% (€1.2bn) to €5.9bn in 2025. Sheep prices increased by 7%, but due to a 5% drop in volumes, their overall value grew by €7m to a total of €394m in 2025.
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Pigs were the only category of livestock that experienced a drop in its value. Despite volume increasing by 2%, prices dropped by 5%, seeing its value drop by €17m to €693m.
Milk, which generated 32% of the value of agricultural outputs in 2025, increased in value by €316m (8%) to €4.5bn. Stronger prices accounted for 3% of this increase.
Commenting on the release, Mairead Griffin, Statistician in the Agriculture Accounts & Production Section, said: “It is worth noting that the value of Milk remained 10% below its 2022 value.”
The overall value of crop production fell by 3%, the equivalent of €87m, from 2024 to 2025. Forage plants were down €62m or 4% due to weaker prices, which dropped by 6%.
The other main contributors to the fall in crop values were potatoes and cereals. The volume of potatoes produced increased by 8%, but with a 24% drop in prices, their value fell by €46m to €218m.
Cereal prices fell by an average of 14%, but higher volumes resulted in their value decreasing by 1% (€4m) to €377m. Similarly to milk, cereal values were still below their 2022 values, with barley 50% lower, wheat down 47% and oats reduced by 33%.
The agricultural sector spent €8bn on the goods and services used in the production process, an increase of 5% on 2024.
The difference between the value of Ireland’s agricultural output and the cost of the goods and services used in the production process, ‘gross value added', was €5.9bn in 2025, a 22% increase on 2024.
When comparing these costs with the ‘gross value added’, for every €1 spent on the cost of goods and services used in the production process, Ireland’s agricultural sector created an added value of €0.73 in 2025.
Intermediate consumption costs grew by €380m (5%) to €8.0bn. This increase was mainly the result of higher expenses on fertilisers and maintenance and repairs, both of which were reported at 9% each of the total intermediate consumption costs. With Fertiliser prices up 5% and volumes increasing by 16%, their cost rose by €132m to €733m. Expenditure on maintenance and repairs increased by €107m (17%) to a total of €727m.
When the value of fixed ‘capital consumption’, ‘other subsidies less taxes on production’, and ‘compensation of employee costs’ are subtracted from the value of ‘gross value added’, the value of agricultural operating surplus increased by €985m or 23% to €5.3bn in 2025. This was the first year that Operating Surplus exceeded its 2022 value.
Entrepreneurial Income, which accounts for the cost of Net Interest payments and Land Rental, was €4.6bn in 2025, up 31% (€1.1bn) from 2024 and up 10% on its 2022 value of €4.2bn.
