Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is concerned that the Teagasc national farm strategy for 2013 has pointed to the fact that cattle, tillage and sheep farmers' incomes are falling behind dairy farmers to the extent that persons are leaving the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26143/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The table below shows family farm income estimates from Teagasc’s National Farm Survey for the last three years, by system of farming.

Family Farm Income by system of farming, 2011 to 2013

Source: Teagasc National Farm Survey

This data illustrates that there is a major gap between the incomes on dairy farms and those on drystock farms, with tillage farms in between. Dairy farm incomes increased by 31% last year, although this followed a reduction of 27% the previous year. Average income fell for all non-dairy farm systems.

It should be borne in mind that almost all dairy farms are classified by Teagasc as full-time farms in terms of the labour input required, whereas most drystock farms are classified as part-time in terms of labour input required. A further point is that family farm income does not equate to farm household income. On 28% of all farms the farm holder had an off-farm job, and on 51% of farms either the holder and/or spouse had an off-farm job in 2013, both marginally higher than in 2012. Overall, it is estimated that on 75% of farms, either the farmer and/or spouse had another source of off-farm income, be it from employment, pensions or other social welfare payments.

While a number of drystock farmers will convert to dairy in the post-quota era, I expect that only a relatively small number of larger scale drystock farmers will be in a position to do so. All farms, and in particular lower income drystock farms, benefit significantly from the €1.2 billion in single farm payments paid by my Department each year.

The new Rural Development Programme will also be a vital support to farm families in terms of enhancing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, managing natural resources in a sustainable manner, and ensuring the balanced development of rural areas. The Government has given a clear signal of its commitment to a strategic investment in rural Ireland and the agri-food sector by providing National Exchequer funding to bring the total amount available for RDP schemes to over €4 billion in the period to 2020.