It’s only early January, but it appears the appetite for land rental seems to be improving compared with 12 months ago.

That was the view of Dillon Murtagh of Mullingar-based auctioneers Murtagh Bros.

“Last year really proved that the mood in farming is very dependent on weather and markets.

"Milk price and beef price are good and if this spring is anyway good at all, I can see demand increasing. When weather improved late in the year, there were a few chasing extra pasture ground.”

He also reported that tillage farmers who had a good autumn for planting winter crops were enquiring to see if they could line up other ground for spring planting.

Small volumes

“The volume of land is very small yet, so it will be interesting to see where things are come mid-March. I expect prices will improve on last year, although I don’t expect them to hit the heady heights of early 2023.

"You’re looking at €250/ac acre as the base for most ground that is well fenced and has a decent set-up.

"There might be a little bit less for rougher grazing, but it’s €250/ac all day long for good grassland and the overall range would be from there up to €400/ac.”

He added that if there is a dairy set-up with a good yard and the possibility of a longer lease, then then you could be looking at above that price range in exceptional cases.

“We’re seeing more dairy farmers keeping an eye out on what will happen with the nitrates derogation too, so that will also be a factor this year.”

West Cork

Nitrates is also a factor further south. Clonakilty-based John Hodnett said that has been a big driver in the west Cork land rental market of late and he expects that to continue albeit at a tighter supply of new land.

“We’d be carrying a lot of land rental and the supply isn’t meeting demand. There’s a significant amount of ground now tied up in five-, seven- or 10-year leases and new land for first-time lease isn’t there.”

West Cork traditionally would have a reputation of commanding reasonably strong prices and he doesn’t envisage that easing.

“It can make anything from €250 to €450 and on the odd occasion, it could go above that."

While it’s a bit quieter with new leases, Hodnett Forde have been kept busy with a large volume of leases being renewed.

“If the landlord is happy with the tenant, they’ll ask us to renegotiate and a lot of those renewals may not be looking for a premium price and instead prefer a good market price.”