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So, it wasn’t my imagination. Dairy farmers are the youngest group of farmers in the country and to quote, “their farms are less demographically challenged” than any other group. At the end of last week, I received from Teagasc their full farm sustainability report for 2017. Thankfully, it wasn’t all about greenhouse gases, though they did feature, but it covered the absolutely crucial areas affecting farm and regional survival in Ireland.
By this measure, 85% of dairy farms met these criteria in 2017
The various categories of farms are well broken down into dairying, cattle, sheep and tillage. While the factors looked at and quantified were economic sustainability – in other words, is the farm profitable, does family labour have at least the minimum wage and is there enough income to give an additional 5% return on non land-based assets employed on the farm.
By this measure, 85% of dairy farms met these criteria in 2017. The corresponding figures for beef and sheep were 25% for cattle farms and 27% for sheep farms. The figure for tillage farms was 74% in the same year.
These economic and age factors feed into household vulnerability, especially if neither the farmer nor their spouse has an off-farm job
These economic viability figures spill over into other areas. Only 12% of dairy farms have a high age profile, meaning that the farmer is over 60 and there are no members of the household under 45, whereas 32% of cattle farms, 30% of sheep farms and 28% of tillage farms have a high age profile. These economic and age factors feed into household vulnerability, especially if neither the farmer nor their spouse has an off-farm job.
Few dairy farmers suffer from isolation, but a high proportion of tillage farmers do, presumably because modern machinery means that even large tillage farms can run and be managed by one labour unit, whereas typically, dairy farms seem to have a labour unit for roughly every 100 to 120 cows. c
From a policy point of view, the report poses two major questions
The final major sustainability piece covered by the report is the area of greenhouse gases, mainly methane, but also nitrous oxide. While Irish dairying may emit lower kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) than any other dairy industry in Europe, dairying in Ireland has become a major contributor to Irish greenhouse gas emissions.
From a policy point of view, the report poses two major questions: first, given the large income and family welfare benefits of dairying, how much expansion do we wish to facilitate nationally and how can the environmental handicaps be reduced? The second question is how should the future potential of the dry stock sector be safeguarded?
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