The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has published data on farm performance in Northern Ireland.

'Northern Ireland Farm Performance Indicators 2023/24’ is the 22nd edition of the annual publication.

The booklet is designed to provide farmers with data to assess the performance of their farm business.

Data in the booklet are extracted from farm account information, collected as part of the 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Farm Business Survey, which is undertaken by DAERA.

The survey is composed of a representative sample of farm businesses and the data reflect performance levels achieved on Northern Ireland farms.

Enterprise data are presented in gross margin format.

Included are details of the value of output, variable costs and gross margin for each of the main enterprises found on Northern Ireland farms.

For the more common enterprises, data are presented for four different levels of performance, according to the gross margin achieved - 'excellent', 'good', 'moderate' and 'poor'.

These represent the levels of performance achieved around the average performance for any particular enterprise.

Overall, 11 out of 15 of the main enterprises recorded decreases in gross margins between 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. 

The report shows that average gross margin on dairy farms for 2023/2024 was £940 per cow, compared to £1,680 for 2022/2023.

For non-less favoured area (LFA) suckler cows, gross margin was £282 per head in 2022/2023 increasing to £342 for 2023/2024.

Non-LFA breeding ewes saw a gross margin of £65 in 2023/2024, a drop from £72 in 2021/22.

Pigs, from birth to bacon, had a gross margin of £81 in 2023/2024, compared to £40 in 2022/2023.

Spring barley had a gross margin of £617 for 2023/2024, down from £1,220 in the previous report, while winter wheat had a gross margin of £1,212 in 2023/2024, down from £1,956.

The results further demonstrate a wide range in farm performance levels. 

For dairy cows, the difference in gross margin per cow between enterprises classified as 'excellent' and 'poor' equates to £694 per cow. 

In addition to enterprise gross margin data, the booklet contains information on hay, silage and grazing costs and average fixed costs by type of farm.

The full details on farm performance can be accessed via DAERA’s website.