The only way to truly know the costs of growing crops is to calculate your own figures, writes Crops Specialist, Shay Phelan who looks at the role of the Teagasc Profit monitor when making crucial decisions going forward into 2026 and beyond.
The recent Situation and Outlook Conference made for some interesting reading in terms of the incomes generated in the National Farm Survey (NFS) by the different streams of farming in this country.
Predictably, dairying was again the most profitable enterprise by some distance in 2025, with an average farm income of €137,000. Tillage farms had the next best average income at €47,000. While this probably isn’t anything new that we wouldn’t have expected, it does provide an insight into the profitability of the different industries.
What is even more interesting, if not worrying, is the predictions for 2026 where the big news is the potential decline in dairy farm incomes – down possibly by 42% – with tillage incomes remaining virtually the same in the mid €40,000 range.
However, in truth we know that averages can hide a lot and there are many tillage farms where incomes are significantly higher than what are quoted in the NFS. There are also those that are significantly lower.
Profit monitor monitoring
Recently, I was presented with some profit monitor figures which revealed significant differences in input costs and types that were being used on tillage farms. The interesting part of the figures was the level of variation between the cost of the inputs used on the same crop.
In many cases, the differences between the highest and lowest spenders were well over 100% for things like herbicides, fungicides, trace elements/bio stimulants, growth regulators and insecticides.
In particular, wild oat control in spring and winter barley where we are limited to one or two products, the variation in the amount of money spent was well over 100%. This leads to the next question: Was the cheapest user cutting rates, risking resistance or was the most expensive user using maximum rates even if not needed or is it simply the case that different prices were being quoted by the suppliers. Whatever the true answer is it highlights the fact that farmers can influence the costs of growing crops by shopping around and getting good solid advice.
The only way to truly know the costs of growing crops is to calculate your own figures. Don’t rely solely on NFS reports or the Teagasc Costs and Returns booklets, as both are no reflection on your own particular situation.
Likewise, your end of year tax accounts doesn’t really give you a true insight into the profitability of the farm as they are calculated for an entirely different reason using different parameters, in an effort to reduce the tax liability.
They usually can’t be used to differentiate between the profitability or performance between different crops or enterprises. This can only be done by using a tool such as the Teagasc Profit Monitor. This will give a much clearer insight into the performance of your farm. They also can give good insight into making crucial decisions going forward into 2026 and beyond. Interestingly, quite often in the past, we would have seen that premium crops such as malting barley or seed contract were not the most profitable crops on the farm. On the back of this some growers opted to diversify into other crop options.
If you are interested in completing a Profit Monitor, contact your local Teagasc advisor.