The Teagasc National Farm Survey for 2020 was published yesterday (Monday, July 19), revealing the average family farm income across the sectors for last year.
We’ve already covered the 2020 farm survey in some detail. In this article, we look into the role that direct payments had on farm incomes.
In general, farm incomes continued to be highly reliant on direct payments in 2020, the value of which decreased by 3% in aggregate terms, according to the survey.
This was due to a combination of small reductions across a range of supports, including the Basic Payments Scheme (BPS).
On average, the total direct payments received per farm in 2020 was €17,850. The actual figure and overall contribution to family farm income (FFI) varies greatly across systems.
Market income (before direct payments are included) was less than €0 on drystock farms, indicating that on average, these farms do not make a profit from production and are heavily dependent on financial support.
Overall, reliance was lower on the average sheep farm when compared to their cattle counterparts.
Although average direct payments are lowest on cattle rearing farms at €14,207, the reliance on these payments and their overall contribution to FFI was highest at 157% in 2020, a slight improvement on the 2019 figure of 160%.
The situation is similar on ‘cattle other’ farms (mainly comprising beef finishers). Here, the average direct payment received in 2020 was €16,964, about 115% of average FFI for that farm system, which was a notable improvement on the 2019 figure of 129%.
For sheep, the contribution of direct payments to FFI was 103%. This is a very considerable improvement on the 2019 situation, when direct payments equated to 132% of FFI for sheep farmers.
Due to their size, Dairy and Tillage farms on average received the highest level of direct payment. However, these two sectors were also the least reliant on payments.
The average direct payment received on Dairy farms in 2020 was €20,430, comprising 28% of average dairy FFI, down slightly from 31% in 2019.
For tillage farms, direct payment accounted for 79% of average FFI in 2020, at an average of €25,729 per farm. This reliance was slightly higher than in 2019, increasing by three percentage points.