The average price paid to rent tillage ground in 2017 was €256/ac, according to the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) / Teagasc Agri Land Market Review and Outlook 2018 report.
Cereal crops
Land rented for cereal crops made a top price in the Munster region of €263/ac. This represents a 26% increase from 2016. In addition, €220/ac was paid in the Leinster region (excluding Dublin), an increase of 11% from 2016.
Land rental charges for cereal crops in Connacht and Ulster saw a massive increase of 55% on 2016 and an average price of €170/ac was paid in this region.
Root crops, maize and pulses
There was a significant difference in land rental prices for forage and pulse crops.
Customers in Munster may have paid the highest rates for cereal crops, but they paid €195/ac for forage and pulse crops. When compared to Leinster’s average of €299/ac, that’s €104/ac less.
However, the land rental price paid for these crops was significantly lower in Connacht and Ulster at €180/ac.
These prices represent increases of 27%, 7% and 4% respectively from 2016 – for land for root crops, maize and pulses – in Leinster, Munster and Connacht/Ulster.
Potatoes
Leinster saw a decrease in land rental prices for potatoes of 11% from 2016 to 2017. Potato ground in Leinster reached an average price of €426/ac, according to the report.
Meanwhile, rental charges for potato ground in Munster increased by 3% from 2016. However, they were significantly lower than prices paid in Leinster.
An average of €295/ac was paid for land for potatoes in Munster. There was not a substantial set of data to give an average price for land rented for potatoes in Ulster and Connacht.