The proposed income volatility measure to support the farming sector, unveiled in Budget 2025, could cost in the region of €15.3 million for the first three years according to projections.
The Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers, last month outlined his intention to “advance an income volatility measure to support the farming sector for consideration in advance of next year’s budget”.
Minister Chambers had said any measure of this nature require “detailed consideration of complex issues of policy around how this would operate in the context of financial regulation, governance and legal structures”.
An “in-depth evaluation of income stability” previously took place ahead of Budget 2019 and at that time the “projected annualised operation cost of the scheme for the first three years amounted to €15.3 million”.
Income volatility
The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) had previously voiced its opinion that there “was no reason” why the government could not have provided a “firmer commitment” in Budget 2025 to an income volatility measure.
ICOS said it was confident that any legal or regulatory issues regarding deferred income “can be addressed, from a farmer, co-op and revenue perspective”.
Farm organisations had also expressed their disappointment that an income volatility measure to support farmers had not been addressed in Budget 2025.
The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan has repeatedly warned that uncertainty over farm incomes is one of the biggest challenges facing the sector, while the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has stressed that Budget 2025 did not “address the income crisis”.
The findings of the latest Teagasc National Farm Survey (2023) starkly illustrated that all farm systems had recorded their lowest average incomes in several years for 2023.
The report, which is representative of almost 85,000 farms in Ireland, showed that the average family farm income in Ireland dropped by 57% in 2023 to €19,925.