Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 397: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide an outline of farm incomes in 2010 compared with 2009; his views on prices for milk, grain, sheep and beef; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34859/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The latest farm income data available, produced by Teagasc in its National Farm Survey for 2009, estimated that average farm income for 2009 was €11,968. Full-time farms, as defined by Teagasc, had an average farm income of €24,214. Comparison with 2010 is not yet possible as this data will not be available until next year. When compared with prices for July 2009, the latest CSO Agricultural Price Indices for July 2010 showed increases of 38% for milk, 17.8% for sheep and 2.9% for cattle. There have been year-on-year decreases in inputs such as feedingstuffs (-8.1%) and fertilisers (-5.2%) documented in the same CSO publication. This should lead to improved income figures for 2010 when the data is published next year. Comparative cereal price data will become available later this month. It is expected that global supply shortages should lead to increased demand and increased prices when the statistics are published.