The average annual rental land price in Ireland stood at €353/ha in 2021, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
This was the fourth highest national average land rental price for arable land and for permanent grassland in all of Europe that year.
According to the data, the highest regional land rental price in Ireland was €437/ha, while the lowest regional price was €243/ha.
Eurostat noted that across the EU the average land rental prices vary considerably between countries and regions.
Renting 1ha of arable land and/or permanent grassland in 2021 was most expensive in the Netherlands at €836/ha, followed by Denmark on €547/ha and Greece at €459/ha.
Italy was among the countries with the most expensive land rents at €837/ha in 2020; no data was presented for 2021.
Agricultural land rental prices in 2021 were lowest in Slovakia at €62/ha, followed by Croatia (€74/ha) and Malta and Latvia (both €83/ha).
Land rental price
Among EU countries that reported specific rental prices for arable land and for permanent grassland, renting permanent grassland was always cheaper than renting arable land.
The rent for 1ha of permanent grassland in 2021 ranged from a low of €39/ha on average in Slovakia to €337/ha on average in Ireland.
This is compared to rental prices for arable land that varied between €79/ha and €466/ha in the same two countries.
The Eurostat data shows that across the regions of the EU renting 1ha of agricultural land was most expensive in 2021 in the Dutch region of Flevoland at a staggering €1,721/ha.
This was followed by the Canary Islands at €1,119/ha and Attiki in Greece on €927/ha.
In contrast, rental prices were lowest in Mellersta Norrland and Övre Norrland (both €25/ha) in Sweden, followed by Vychodne Slovensko in Slovakia at €42/ha.
Permanent grasslands is the main agricultural land use in those regions.