The number of farms in Ireland has dropped by 5% in the 10 years to 2023, a new survey from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has found.

The farm structure survey, conducted by the CSO for years ending in three and six, revealed that last year there were 133,174 farms in Ireland.

The average farm size in 2023 was 34.7ha.

In Cork and Kerry, farm size was the largest, with 868,776ha utilised for agriculture. The west - Galway, Mayo and Roscommon - had the highest number of farms, some 30,204.

More than half of all farms across the country - 56% - were classified as specialist beef farms.

Age profile

The CSO survey also found that the average age of an Irish farmer in 2023 was just under 60 years old - 59.4 to be precise.

Just 4.3% of farm holders were under 35 last year, while 37.8% were over 65, according to the CSO.

Gender

On gender balance in farming, 87% of farm holders were male, while 13% were female in 2023.

Smaller farms were more likely to have a female holder; as 17% of farms sized less than 10ha had a female holder compared with 13% for all farm sizes.

Dairy farms had the highest proportion of male holders at 93%.

However, the CSO’s data found that women were far more likely to be farm labourers than farm holders.

Of the 299,725 farm workers last year, 66% were male, while 34% were female.

Succession

Less than half (47%) of farm holders (the legal owner of a family farm) had a succession plan in place and of those that did, almost all (98%) indicated the successor was a family member.

More than half (53%) of farm holders stated that farming was their sole occupation. Some 87% of workers were either the holder or a family member.

Land and livestock

The area of utilised agricultural land, excluding commonage, was more than 4.6m hectares across the country in 2023, the CSO has said.

Grassland accounted for 92% of agricultural land last year.

The land area under cereals was nearly 270,000ha, with barley the most widely grown cereal, which accounted for 69%.

The number of cattle increased by 6% or approximately 440,000/head from 2013 to 2023. Over the same period, the average herd size rose from 62 to 72.

There were more than 5.5m sheep in the country last year, up by more than 600,000 or 12.3% in the decade to 2023. The average flock size was 165 last year.

There were more than 1.7m pigs and 17.1m poultry in the country in 2023.

Organics

There were 4,168 organic farms in Ireland last year, including those in conversion.

Over half of organic farms were classified as specialist beef farms (55%).

The average size of an organic farm was 43.2ha, compared to 34.7ha as the average size of all farms.

There were nearly 500,000 sheep on organic farms, representing 9% of all sheep.

More than 100,000 or 1.4% of all cattle were organic, while over 500,000 or 3% of all poultry were organic.

Some 17% of holders of organic farms were female compared with 13% for all farms.

Machinery and renewables

The number of tractors owned on farms was 201,260 in 2023, the CSO survey found.

Of these, 47% had an engine power ranging from 61 to 100.

Some 6,323 holdings in Ireland reported having at least one form of renewable energy source present on their farm, representing 5% of all farms.

Farm structure survey questionnaires were sent to 34,988 farmers in the week preceding the reference date of 1 June 2023.