President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan has said that the government “should be ashamed” of the farm income findings revealed through the Teagasc National Farm Survey.
Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president, Francie Gorman also said that the low levels of income is a “reminder of the fragility of farming”.
Teagasc confirmed that the average family farm income in 2023 was less than €20,000, which the IFA said is the “lowest level in more than a decade”.
The report showed that the average income for Irish dairy farmers stood at just under €49,500 in 2023, a fall of 69% compared to the previous year.
Drennan said that the data showed the government’s “incompetence” towards the agricultural sector.
“Try and imagine any other occupation in Ireland working a 60-hour week where a government agency produces figures showing a fall income in just a single calendar year of almost 70%,” Drennan said.
Farm income
“Our farmers – arguably the best in the world – are losing their livelihoods and the Irish government just shrugs and moves on, preparing the next round of ‘green’ regulations or useless and half-baked schemes aimed at non-commercial farming,” Drennan added.
Drennan said that the figure of €49,432 is based on 1.43 labour units, and that therefore a single labour unit would receive less income.
He said that farmers are earning “about €11 per hour” before they deal with debt repayments.
“The Irish government and the civil servants responsible for the state of the dairy sector should be ashamed to show their faces in public on the basis of those figures,” Drennan said.
ICSA
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) president Seán McNamara said that the results show the beef, sheep, and suckler sectors have been “hit hard”.
Beef finishers saw their family farm incomes (FFI) drop by 19% to €14,735, sheep farmers faced a 22% decrease to €12,625, and suckler farmers saw their incomes fall by 15% to just €7,425.
“The minister’s commitment to pay €100/ha for crops planted in 2024 is not nearly enough to stop the decline within the sector,” McNamara said.
As part of its pre-budget submission, the ICSA has called substantial increases in funding for the national beef and sheep welfare schemes.
ICSA has also proposed introducing payments for rearing dairy calves and for finishing cattle earlier.
Pre-budget meeting
The IFA is due to hold a meeting ahead of the budget with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue tomorrow (Wednesday, July 24).
President Gorman said that the association will be “be emphasising the need for the maximum level of supports for farm families”.
“Farm income levels are now at historically low levels, with an average drop of 57% compared to 2022. No sector fared well; tillage and dairy took the biggest hits in terms of overall drop.
“Sheep and livestock farmers were also heavily impacted with average suckler farmer income now the lowest on record,” Gorman said.
Gorman added that “further contraction” in food production is “inevitable” unless retailers start paying a fair price for food, and national and European agricultural policy adjusts to recognise thatthese farm income levels are “not viable”.