Average costs across all agricultural sectors have risen by 73% since 2017.

A new report launched by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has looked into the impact of global events such as Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine on the cost of doing business for farmers.

The most impacted sectors, dairy and tillage, incurred total cost increases of 86% and 106% respectively.

During the same time period, farm incomes have dropped by an average of 34%.

Speaking at the report launch at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois, IFA director of policy, Tadhg Buckley warned that continued cost increases are unsustainable at farm level.

“Our farming sector has to compete in a global market while operating in a very high-cost economy. We also have much tighter and constantly increasing regulation. It is not sustainable.”

Budget 2025

The drystock sectors have seen somewhat lower levels of increase. However, the IFA said income levels were at low levels to begin with in these sectors.

Following on from the reports, the IFA has reiterated its calls for Government to support vulnerable farming sectors in Budget 2025 and to include farms in small business support schemes.

IFA president Francie Gorman said the alarming increase in the cost of farming is something that has to be addressed.

“While the increases reflect inflationary pressures, they also reflect higher compliance costs due to ongoing increases in regulations,” he said.

“While costs have increased, turnover or total revenue has not kept pace which is one of the core reasons for the decline in income. Reduced output price is not the only reason for the reduction in turnover. Increasing regulatory requirements, which is reducing farmer productivity, is also leading to lower turnover.”