Some contractor charges are seeing a hike of up to 4%, while other charges are shown as virtually unchanged, according to the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) annual price guide, which has been published this week.
The FCI says that increasing costs of new machinery for Farm & Forestry Contractors continues to impact on the sustainability of many Irish agricultural contracting businesses.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €40.50/ac/run or €142/hr for disc harrowing.
“Machinery costs have risen by more than 30% in the past three years, while spare parts prices have risen by even larger amounts,” according to FCI national chair, John Hughes.
“Contractors also have new and additional costs in 2024, with the combination of the minimum wage increase impact along with the new legal requirements around the provision of pension funding for employees.
“These are additional increased costs that contractors have to factor into their 2024 operational costs,” said Hughes.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €23-€26/bale to bale, wrap, stack and move (inc. net and plastic four layers).
FCI added that fuel prices have risen slightly as we start into 2024 against a background where they stabilised in 2023, but reduced, following significant increases close to 50% in 2022. It said that skilled operator availability and at what cost, remains another huge unknown as we enter 2024.
It said there is a scarcity of young people joining the sector and that it is disappointed that the apprenticeship scheme for agriculture did not include its request for structured training for machinery operators.
FCI says it is satisfied that its price guide continues to provide fair and reasonable guidance for both farm and forestry contractors and their client farmers. However, it must be emphasised that this is only an information guide.
The association says it has produced these guide figures by collating an average figure for each operation from a panel of FCI contractor members from across Ireland.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge €70-€76/hr for hedge-cutting with a tractor and flail head hedge cutter.
Because of the local differences, it notes that the actual guide charge may vary between regions, across soil types, distance travelled, size of contract undertaken, size and type of equipment used as well as the scale of the work done.
For these reasons, there are bands in each segment of the guide. The 2024 guide lists 102 items of work up from 98 in 2023.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €23-€26/bale to bale, wrap, stack and move (inc. net and plastic four layers).
Some contractor charges are seeing a hike of up to 4%, while other charges are shown as virtually unchanged, according to the Association of Farm & Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) annual price guide, which has been published this week.
The FCI says that increasing costs of new machinery for Farm & Forestry Contractors continues to impact on the sustainability of many Irish agricultural contracting businesses.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €40.50/ac/run or €142/hr for disc harrowing.
“Machinery costs have risen by more than 30% in the past three years, while spare parts prices have risen by even larger amounts,” according to FCI national chair, John Hughes.
“Contractors also have new and additional costs in 2024, with the combination of the minimum wage increase impact along with the new legal requirements around the provision of pension funding for employees.
“These are additional increased costs that contractors have to factor into their 2024 operational costs,” said Hughes.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €23-€26/bale to bale, wrap, stack and move (inc. net and plastic four layers).
FCI added that fuel prices have risen slightly as we start into 2024 against a background where they stabilised in 2023, but reduced, following significant increases close to 50% in 2022. It said that skilled operator availability and at what cost, remains another huge unknown as we enter 2024.
It said there is a scarcity of young people joining the sector and that it is disappointed that the apprenticeship scheme for agriculture did not include its request for structured training for machinery operators.
FCI says it is satisfied that its price guide continues to provide fair and reasonable guidance for both farm and forestry contractors and their client farmers. However, it must be emphasised that this is only an information guide.
The association says it has produced these guide figures by collating an average figure for each operation from a panel of FCI contractor members from across Ireland.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge €70-€76/hr for hedge-cutting with a tractor and flail head hedge cutter.
Because of the local differences, it notes that the actual guide charge may vary between regions, across soil types, distance travelled, size of contract undertaken, size and type of equipment used as well as the scale of the work done.
For these reasons, there are bands in each segment of the guide. The 2024 guide lists 102 items of work up from 98 in 2023.
The FCI Contracting Charges Guide for 2024 shows a charge of €23-€26/bale to bale, wrap, stack and move (inc. net and plastic four layers).
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: