Written answers
Tuesday, 28 July 2020
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Farms Data
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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696. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farms here, within bands (details supplied), by county, in tabular form. [19217/20]
Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The CSO's 2016 Farm Structures Survey provides detailed information on the number of farms by size on a regional basis. The average farm size in 2016 was 32.4 hectares. However, farms in the Border Midlands and West region averaged 27.1 hectares in 2016, compared to 38.3 hectares in the South and East region. Data on farm size by county is not readily available.
Tables 1 provides a breakdown of the number of farms (Thousand) by farm size and region, based on CSO data.
Area of crops by region
| 2019 | State | Northern and Western | Border | West | Southern | Mid-West | South-East | South-West | Eastern and Midland | Dublin and Mid-East | Midland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area farmed (AAU) | 4,524.4 | 1,516.9 | 669.7 | 847.2 | 2,025.7 | 740.0 | 487.9 | 797.8 | 981.8 | 523.5 | 458.3 |
| Crops and pasture | 4,002.8 | 1,272.6 | 544.5 | 728.1 | 1,829.4 | 695.5 | 467.1 | 666.8 | 900.8 | 474.9 | 425.9 |
| Pasture | 2,376.7 | 882.7 | 371.1 | 511.6 | 1,010.5 | 410.2 | 227.0 | 373.2 | 483.5 | 243.5 | 240.1 |
| Hay | 180.8 | 50.6 | 21.9 | 28.7 | 82.6 | 48.8 | 17.0 | 16.8 | 47.6 | 24.5 | 23.1 |
| Grass silage | 1,088.7 | 320.0 | 142.1 | 177.9 | 559.8 | 209.3 | 123.4 | 227.1 | 209.0 | 84.3 | 124.6 |
| Total crops, fruit and horticulture | 356.7 | 19.3 | 9.4 | 9.9 | 176.6 | 27.1 | 99.8 | 49.7 | 160.7 | 122.6 | 38.1 |
| Beans and peas | 8.1 | 0.1 | - | - | 3.8 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 0.7 |
| Oilseed rape | 9.2 | 0.1 | - | - | 3.5 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 5.7 | 4.9 | 0.8 |
Number of Cattle in June (000 Head) by Region and County, year and type of
| Type of Cattle | Total cattle | Cows | Dairy cows | Other cows | Bulls | Cattle | Total cattle: male | Total cattle: female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ||||||||
| State | 7,209 | 2,505 | 1,505 | 1,000 | 8 | 2,192 | 2,235 | 4,974 |
| Northern and Western | 1,736 | 570 | 172 | 398 | 3 | 593 | 548 | 1,188 |
| Border | 800 | 276 | 108 | 168 | 1 | 247 | 242 | 557 |
| Leitrim | 62 | 25 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 11 | 15 | 47 |
| Sligo | 111 | 39 | 8 | 31 | 0 | 34 | 32 | 79 |
| Cavan | 229 | 82 | 39 | 43 | 0 | 64 | 65 | 164 |
| Donegal | 185 | 62 | 22 | 39 | 0 | 62 | 63 | 122 |
| Monaghan | 212 | 68 | 37 | 32 | 0 | 76 | 68 | 144 |
| West | 936 | 294 | 65 | 230 | 2 | 346 | 305 | 631 |
| Galway | 445 | 139 | 38 | 101 | 1 | 167 | 148 | 298 |
| Mayo | 279 | 93 | 18 | 75 | 0 | 92 | 86 | 192 |
| Roscommon | 212 | 62 | 8 | 54 | 0 | 87 | 72 | 141 |
| Southern | 3,899 | 1,467 | 1,085 | 382 | 3 | 962 | 1,153 | 2,746 |
| Mid-West | 1,426 | 490 | 328 | 163 | 1 | 444 | 471 | 955 |
| Clare | 288 | 104 | 34 | 71 | 1 | 79 | 93 | 195 |
| Limerick | 438 | 155 | 119 | 36 | 0 | 127 | 138 | 300 |
| Tipperary | 700 | 231 | 175 | 56 | 1 | 238 | 240 | 460 |
| South-East | 1,035 | 375 | 277 | 98 | 1 | 284 | 316 | 719 |
| Carlow | 105 | 32 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 41 | 36 | 69 |
| Kilkenny | 365 | 125 | 94 | 32 | 0 | 114 | 122 | 243 |
| Wexford | 267 | 106 | 86 | 20 | 0 | 55 | 73 | 194 |
| Waterford | 299 | 111 | 80 | 31 | 0 | 76 | 86 | 213 |
| South-West | 1,439 | 602 | 481 | 121 | 1 | 235 | 366 | 1,073 |
| Cork | 1,093 | 454 | 379 | 74 | 1 | 186 | 285 | 808 |
| Kerry | 346 | 148 | 102 | 47 | 0 | 49 | 81 | 264 |
| Eastern and Midland | 1,574 | 468 | 247 | 220 | 2 | 636 | 533 | 1,040 |
| Dublin | 24 | 7 | 3 | 4 | - | 10 | 7 | 17 |
| Dublin and Mid-East | 713 | 221 | 129 | 92 | 1 | 271 | 232 | 481 |
| Kildare | 145 | 38 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 69 | 56 | 89 |
| Louth | 93 | 30 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 34 | 28 | 65 |
| Meath | 324 | 101 | 64 | 37 | 0 | 122 | 105 | 219 |
| Wicklow | 128 | 46 | 25 | 21 | 0 | 36 | 36 | 92 |
| Midland | 861 | 247 | 119 | 128 | 1 | 366 | 302 | 559 |
| Laois | 259 | 78 | 46 | 32 | 0 | 103 | 95 | 164 |
| Longford | 114 | 36 | 10 | 25 | 0 | 43 | 38 | 76 |
| Offaly | 256 | 64 | 33 | 31 | 0 | 127 | 94 | 162 |
| Westmeath | 231 | 69 | 30 | 40 | 0 | 93 | 74 | 158 |
Cattle results have been obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) AIM system. Dairy cows are those kept principally to produce milk for human consumption.
Bulls used for breeding purposes only. The regional composition is based on the new NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification which came into effect on 1st January 2018 following an Amendment of the EU NUTS legislation.
Number of Livestock in June (000 Head) by Region, Year and Type of
| 2019 | Total sheep | Total pigs | Total poultry | Total horses and ponies | Total mules, jennets and asses | Total goats | Total farmed deer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | 5,146 | 1,616 | .. | 82 | 9.8 | 8.7 | .. |
| Northern and Western | 2,468 | 475 | .. | 24.2 | 5.3 | 3 | .. |
| Border | 1,039 | 435 | .. | 5.7 | 2.2 | 1.5 | .. |
| West | 1,429 | 40 | .. | 18.5 | 3.2 | 1.5 | .. |
| Southern | 1,476 | 731 | .. | 33.9 | 3.5 | 3.6 | .. |
| Mid-West | 227 | 200 | .. | 11.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 | .. |
| South-East | 549 | 240 | .. | 12.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | .. |
| South-West | 700 | 291 | .. | 10.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | .. |
| Eastern and Midland | 1,202 | 410 | .. | 23.9 | 1 | 2 | .. |
| Dublin and Mid-East | 905 | 117 | .. | 16.8 | 0.4 | 1.2 | .. |
| Midland | 296 | 293 | .. | 7 | 0.6 | 0.9 | .. |
.. indicates that the observation is missing or fall under the limit of discretion/uncertainty.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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697. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average amount of hedgerows in hectares; and the average amount of scrubland in hectares, per farm, by county, within bands (details supplied), in tabular form. [19218/20]
Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department maintains linear hedgerow data in relation to a subset of farmers who have Ecological Focus Area obligations under the Greening Scheme, However, it does not currently maintain a national dataset on the area of hedgerows per county.
The information relating to scrub is currently being collated and will be forwarded directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
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