With machinery continuing to be a major and growing cost on tillage farms, Crops Specialist at Teagasc, Shay Phelan takes a closer look at machinery sharing and the options available.

Last week, a report from the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) valued farm machinery in Ireland at €4.78 billion. The research was carried out by IFAC, and it also highlighted the cost increase that we have witnessed over the last number of years.

In the report, one machinery dealer indicated that the cost of the typical tractor in Ireland 10 years ago was €60,000, whereas now framers are spending up to €150,000 on the average unit. He also commented that farmers are spending between €250,000 to €300,000 on your typical combine harvester.

Co-incidentally almost 10 years ago in 2016, Teagasc as part of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Knowledge Transfer Scheme carried out analysis of tillage farm profitability.

Part of the analysis focused on machinery costs which, at the time, was one of the three biggest costs on tillage farms, alongside fertiliser and land rent. The results subsequently made for some interesting reading.

Almost 165 tillage farms, ranging in size from 40 ha up to over 1,000ha, completed the Teagasc machinery cost programme, which recorded the initial purchase cost, depreciation, running costs and repairs.

The average machinery cost on tillage farms in the survey was €343/ha. However, we saw huge variability of almost €500/ha between the highest and lowest. Significantly, 14% of the farms had a higher cost than the cost of hiring a contractor who also include a labour cost. The average investment in machinery at the time was over €2,500/ha

The results from the Teagasc Outlook Conference this week show that on average tillage farms made a profit of approximately €47,000 in 2025, which is a 14% increase on 2024. However, this is still below the 5-year average. This begs the question as to how tillage farmers can afford to replace machinery.

Teagasc tillage advisors are helping farmers at the moment to calculate their own individual machinery costs. This will make an interesting comparison to the figures in 2016. If you’re interested, talk to your local advisor.

Machinery sharing

In 2022, Teagasc launched a machinery sharing template which attempts to facilitate farmers who commit to sharing a machine or series of machines. The template is based on others systems such as the Cuma model in France and also the Scottish Borders machinery ring in Scotland. Interestingly in France the network of Cumas represent almost 50% of farmers in the country. Sharing machinery has many benefits including reducing the cost to the owner, access to higher specification machinery and also access to labour potentially.

There are a number of existing arrangements in Ireland also where collaboration between farmers has resulted in reduced costs, increased efficiency, and also access to labour. While machinery shares aren’t as widespread in Ireland as they are in other countries, they can and do operate in Ireland. Two farmers who operate one of the longest running machinery shares, dating back to the 1970’s was highlighted in the Teagasc Today’s farm in 2023. Read the article ‘Sharing means saving’ from Today’s Farm here (PDF).

A copy of the machinery sharing template can be found on the Teagasc website.