Weak market prices are leaving sheep farmers in a “severe loss-making situation” as prices drop further, the National Sheep Committee chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said.
Prices are averaging over 40c/kg behind 2022 for the year to date on hoggets and lambs, which equates to a further cut of over €9.5 million in sheep farmers’ incomes for this year, Kevin Comiskey said.
The sheep sector in Ireland is at a “critical point”, he said, with market prices failing to reflect the production cost increases farmers “have had to endure” over the past two years.
Sheep farmers
He said the latest drop in factory prices is increasing the challenges in the sheep sector. In 2022 income levels on sheep farms dropped to €7/ewe, including the Sheep Welfare Scheme (SWS) payment.
The SWS has been replaced by the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) in 2023 under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with a 20% increase in the ewe payment rate from €10 to €12.
“Weak market prices this year have compounded the problem and is effectively leaving every sheep farmer in a severe loss-making situation.
“Sheep farmers do not have the capacity to endure this level of income loss and immediate action is required,” the IFA National Sheep Committee chair said.
Comiskey stressed that both the factories and Bord Bia “must do more” in the market place to return a viable price for sheep farmers in Ireland.
Family farm income
Targeted payments of at least €30/ewe to provide economic viability on sheep farms must be delivered by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, he added.
The average income on sheep farms in Ireland has decreased by 21% within one year to an average of €16,454, the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2022 has shown.
This is a level of reduction in Family Farm Income (FFI) that the “low-income, vulnerable sheep sector does not have the capacity to absorb”, Comiskey commented.
Direct payments contributed 110% to overall sheep farm incomes in 2022, and a targeted €30/ewe payment is “essential” to support the sector, he said.