Part-time farmers earn €6,500 a year

FOUR out of 10 farmers work part-time and earn less than €6,500 a year. The average income of full-time farmers stands at €29,000, €1,000 above the average industrial wage.

The Teagasc National Farm Survey 2003, published yesterday, shows:

40% of Ireland's 114,500 farming households are small, part-time, mostly sheep and beef farmers who earn less than €6,500 per annum.