Farmers see the sector’s income struggles, red tape attached to farming and climate targets as the biggest issues awaiting the next Government as candidates get knocking in doors ahead of the 29 November general election.

These issues were deemed the most important by a respective 26%, 21% and 18% of the over 1,000 respondents to a recent Irish Farmers Journal survey.

The sector that saw most farmers reporting farm incomes as the biggest issue for the next Government to tackle was the tillage sector, with 46% of tillage farmers opting for this issue when asked.

This survey finding came after tillage farmer incomes took the most severe hammering last year of any farming sector, dropping by an average of over seven-tenths on 2022 levels.

The farm income challenge was deemed to be the biggest issue in agriculture for 29% of sheep farmers, 28% of suckler farmers and 27% of cattle finishers.

All three of these sectors saw red tape in farming emerge as the second most popular response.

Tillage farmers were more likely to say that CAP will be the biggest issue facing the Government of the next Dáil than any other sector, with just under one-sixth of tillage sector respondents selecting this option.

Dairy was the only sector whose farmers did not report incomes as being the biggest issue lying in store for the next Government.

Some 29% of dairy farmers reported that the retention of the nitrates derogation will be and another two-fifths of dairy farmers said it will either be climate targets or the red tape in farming.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the cohort of respondents aged over 60 that were the most likely to state that farm retirement and succession will be the biggest issue awaiting the next Government.

One in every six farmers in this age group picked this answer when surveyed, but the issue ranked as just the fourth most frequently chosen option provided by this group, as farm income concerns remain to the fore even among this cohort of older farmers.

The other options not yet referred to that respondents could select were animal welfare, live exports, other and all of the above, with just 4% of all farmers surveyed choosing any of these options.