Teagasc profit monitors must include labour

Teagasc profit monitor figures are not showing the true income in farming, because they are not pricing the farmers’ labour input. 

Many farmers are working in excess of 80 hours per week and that should be put in at the average, hourly rate paid to the industrial worker, to compare to other sectors.

By excluding a cost for the farmers’ labour, we are giving false figures to those young people who will spend big as an investment in their future and later find themselves unable to repay debt.