The majority of planning permissions granted for new agriculture-related building developments were secured by dairy farmers last year latest figures suggest.
According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) a total of 981 developments in the category for “agriculture, forestry, horticulture, fruit-growing viniculture and fishery purposes” secured the green light for planning permission in 2023.
Out of these the majority of planning permissions were granted to dairy farmers – predominately in the south of the country.
However the total floor area for which planning permission was secured fell dramatically in 2023 compared to the previous total in 2020.
Last year 582,000 sq metres secured planning permission in the category which included agriculture – this compared to 923,000 sq metres in 2020.
According to Tom Fallon, farm buildings and infrastructure specialist with Teagasc, the reason for the decline in planning applications and development by farmers was primarily because “everything has been so volatile since 2021”.
Fallon said agricultural building activity was very strong in 2020 and 2021, but since then it had been a “bit subdued”.
He said the impact of the war in Ukraine combined with high inflation and fluctuations in milk price all had a major impact on planned investment and developments by farmers.
This was evidenced in the 2023 Agricultural Output Price Index which was down 8.2% when compared with 2022 while the Agricultural Input Price Index also fell by 5.5% over the same period according to the CSO.
However Fallon expects that despite challenging weather conditions and “the extraordinary difficult spring farmers that are still enduring” there will be a rebound in building activity on the horizon.
“There is an awful lot of work to be done in terms of extra soiled water and slurry storage, calf housing and silage storage facilities etc.
“Commercial building activity is reducing substantially so that will help to reduce pressure on building costs in the wider economy.
“I do expect a rebound over the next two years assuming we get normal weather and milk price further improves,” Fallon added.