Welcome to the Irish Farmers Journal Agricultural Land Price Report for 2024, our 18th I may add.

Over the course of 2024, we recorded a 5% increase in the price of land in the Republic of Ireland to average €12,515/ac. In Northern Ireland, land prices rose even higher. The increase was 7% to average £14,736/ac, or approximately €17,400/ac.

The Irish Farmers Journal Agricultural Land Price Report aims to capture the majority of land sales in the Republic and Northern Ireland and is the most comprehensive analysis of the market.

Details are collected on private treaty as well as public auction sales, with the data treated in complete confidence. We aim to show the movements in supply, demand and prices for farmland, from one year to the next.

What’s very noticeable in this year’s report is the huge variation in prices paid for land across the country.

Last year, land was sold for less than €1,000/ac for marginal parcels with more value for habitat protection than food production. In contrast, top prices for commercial farmland were around €50,000/ac. It’s a substantial spread, driven by the quality of the land and location – but mostly by who wants it. An auctioneer’s favourite parcel of land to sell is the one sitting between two strong dairy farmers.

While weather often plays a role in land sales, its impact was more acute last year. An extraordinarily wet winter and spring were eventually followed by a very kind autumn. Farmer confidence was shaky in spring, but bullish by year-end. Prices for milk, livestock and for key inputs moved somewhat in farmers’ favour, too.

Looking ahead, the future of the nitrates derogation will influence the land market in 2025 (page 24). Any move by a new Government on eligibility for Agricultural Relief from Capital Acquisitions Tax will matter.

Meanwhile, many rural auctioneers are wondering where the next generation of farmers will come from – we look at the topic of succession and land leasing.

On top of this, while farms are businesses, they are also homes and a farmer’s ability to build – or not build – a house on their land is having an impact. We look at how obtaining planning permission is getting more difficult for farming families.

I would like to thank auctioneers and their staff for taking the time to provide data and help. This year we continued with our new system, under which auctioneers directly input their own results into our database. Thank you to those who took the time to do so.

I would like to thank my colleagues; Ciara Leahy, editor of Irish Country Living, for her support; Jack Kennedy, editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, and Peter McCann for his expert analysis of the Northern Ireland land market.

Thanks to Eanna MacGiolla Phadraig, Joe Lenehan, Elaine Hogan and Grace Hanna for data-gathering and calculations. A big thanks, too, to my colleagues in production and advertising in the Irish Farmers Journal.