Income of dairy farmers at over €64k

Dairy farmers saw their incomes rise to more than €64,000 last year, but other sectors have been decimated, according to the latest Teagasc national farm survey.

On dairy farms, average family income increased by 31% in 2013, almost completely reversing the decline in 2012 and returning income levels close to the highs of 2011.

However, other types of farming experienced further income falls, with the annual earnings of sheep farm families plunging to €11,160 from €18,243 in 2012.

The continuing fallout from the fodder crisis also led to huge increases in costs, with expenditure on feed rising by 55%.

Irish Farmers Association president Eddie Downey called the income figures a wake-up call for Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

“The income figures presented by Teagasc are stark,” he said. “The low-income farming sectors, cattle rearing, cattle finishing, and sheep, were hit particularly hard by the high costs incurred as a result of the fodder crisis in the spring of 2013.

“Farmers are not receiving a fair and sustainable income. The Minister for Agriculture must immediately act to improve the viability of the dry-stock sectors.”

Overall, average farm incomes increased by 1% last year to €25,639 — but this masks the growing divide between dairy’s success and other struggling sectors, according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey.

Cattle-rearing family farm incomes declined by 22% due to higher costs of production. Cattle, ‘other’, and sheep farm incomes declined by 13% and 39% respectively in 2013 due to lower levels of output combined with higher costs.

Professor Gerry Boyle, a Teagasc director, said: “Those regions where dairy farming is more concentrated [south-west, south-east, and south] saw average incomes increase, while incomes in other regions, which have a greater dependence on dry stock and tillage farming, saw declines.

“The largest increase in average family farm incomes occurred in the South Region (Cork and Kerry) where average farm incomes increased by 24%, while incomes in the midlands region, where dry stock farming and tillage dom-inates, declined by 16%.”

Teagasc’s senior analysts note that dairy is the main sector in which farmers are steadily reducing their dependence on EU subsidies. Every other sector is delivering an average income which would be loss-making if measured without EU supports. On dairy farms, average incomes increased due to both higher prices (+23%) and increased levels of milk output per hectare (+11%), despite large increases in costs of production (+11%). In 2013 the average dairy farm income was €64,371. Anne Kinsella of the Teagasc Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department said: “While welcome, this improvement highlights the vulnerability of dairy incomes to increasingly volatile milk prices.” While production costs rose by 6%, feed costs increased more significantly. Expenditure on concentrate feed was up 23% and winter feed for cattle rose 55%. Dairy was the only section where output and price rose enough to compensate for the rise in the cost of farming.