Dairy farms were almost 10ha larger in 2020 compared to 2010, according to the Central Statistics Office’s (CSO’s) Census of Agriculture 2020 preliminary results.
The number of farms in Ireland has decreased by 3.4% to 135,037 since 2010, the census has found.
The average farm size as of 2020 is 33.4ha, an increase of 0.7ha (2.2%) over 2010.
42% of all farms were in the northern and western statistical region, where the average farm size was 25.8ha. 40% of farms were in the southern region with an average size of 38.8ha. 18% of farms were in the eastern and midland region, with an average size of 39.4ha.
The largest farms were found in the specialist dairy category, where the average was 65.1ha, 9.8ha (or 17.7%) larger than in 2010.
Specialist beef production farms were an average size of 26.9ha, 0.8ha (2.9%) smaller than in 2010.
Specialist tillage farms increased in size by 7.6ha (13.6%) since 2010, while specialist sheep farms decreased in size by 1.9ha (6.2%).
More than one in every five farms (or 20.8%) were less than 10ha in size.
For almost exactly one-third (33%) of farms, the farm holder was aged 65 or older, while on just 7% of farms the holder was aged under 35.
Just over one in every eight farm holders were female as of 2020, or 13.4% – a 1% increase on 2010.
Last year there were 7.3 million cattle, 5.5 million sheep, 1.6 million pigs and almost 16.5 million poultry on Irish farms.
Commenting on these figures, Cathal Doherty, a statistician with the CSO said: “The Census of Agriculture provides a snapshot of the agricultural activity on Irish farms in 2020. This census of farming is taken every 10 years and it includes statistics on farm structure, farmer demographics, livestock and land utilisation.
“The CSO would like to extend its appreciation to farmers for responding to this census and other agricultural surveys,” Doherty added.
He explained that the final publication of the verified results will be published in 2022, which will contain more detailed information.
The key findings by farm systems are summarised below:
- Specialist beef production:
- Specialist Beef Production was the most common type of farming in Ireland, with 74,159 farms engaged in this activity;
- These farms were typically smaller (median of 21ha) and close to 46% were in the northern and western region;
- The age of farm holders on specialist beef production farms was typically older (mean age of 58) than other farming systems (mean age of all other farm holders is 56);
- Specialist sheep:
- Just less than two-thirds (64.2%) of the 17,435 specialist sheep farms in 2020 were in the northern and western region;
- These were typically smaller (median of 17ha) and the farm holders were typically younger (mean age of 56) than specialist beef production farm holders;
- Specialist dairy:
- There were 15,319 specialist dairy farms and these farms were typically large (median of 55ha);
- Seven out of every 10 (71.6%) of specialist dairy farms were in the southern region;
- Specialist dairy farms typically have younger farm holders (mean age of 52) than all other farming systems;
- Specialist tillage;
- Almost all (95.6%) of the 4,567 specialist tillage farms in 2020 were in the southern region and eastern and midland region;
- Typically, these were larger farms. Specialist tillage farms had a median size of 42ha;
- The age of farm holders on specialist tillage farms was similar (mean age of 57) to that of all farms in the state.