Written answers
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Farm Household Incomes
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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270. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average family income for dairy, cattle, sheep and tillage farmers for each of the years 2011 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44073/15]
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The following table shows average family farm income from Teagasc’s National Farm Survey for the years 2011 to 2014, by system of farming.
| Dairying | Cattle Rearing | Cattle Other | Sheep | Tillage | Mixed Livestock | All farms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of farms represented | 20% | 23% | 30% | 16% | 8% | 3% | 100% |
| 2011 | 68,570 | 10,453 | 14,573 | 16,805 | 35,296 | 34,902 | 24,461 |
| 2012 | 49,290 | 12,186 | 17,896 | 18,243 | 37,151 | 46,119 | 25,479 |
| 2013 | 62,994 | 9,541 | 15,667 | 11,731 | 28,797 | 50,793 | 25,437 |
| 2014 | 67,598 | 10,369 | 13,321 | 15,065 | 28,995 | 56,183 | 26, 642 |
At the recent Teagasc, Annual Review and Outlook 2016 conference Teagasc estimated that average family farm income would fall by 9% in 2015 and rise by 5% in 2016.
The data illustrates that there is a gap between the incomes on dairy farms and those on drystock farms, with tillage farms in between. 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. In 2014, on 30% 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. 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 assistance.
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