Facts and figures on 2024 cereal production
Collated and analysed by the Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department in Teagasc, the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2024 Cereals Enterprise Factsheet showcases the average performance achieved on cereal enterprises in 2024.
The factsheet examines yields and returns from spring barley and winter wheat crops, highlighting that farmers grappled with variable yields and volatile cereal prices in 2024.
Despite direct costs falling throughout the 2024 calendar year, purchase timing of inputs limited the overall reduction in direct costs at farm level: direct costs decreased by 10% for spring barley and 16% for winter wheat in 2024. Additionally, fixed costs for both spring barley and winter wheat crops declined by 10%.
The NFS factsheet also explores that average gross and net margins achieved per hectare from spring barley and winter wheat crops in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Yielding an average of 6.3t/ha in 2024, the average net margin recorded for spring barley was €174/ha; winter wheat yields averaged 8.5t/ha, resulting – after costs – in a net margin of €364/ha.
Total costs per tonne decreased for both spring barley and winter wheat in 2024, while price per tonne increased for spring barely and decreased for winter wheat. The decrease in costs, coupled with output value changes led to an increase in the net margin per tonne for both spring barley and winter wheat, the NFS factsheet shows. The average net margin for spring barley in 2024 being €17/t, while winter wheat recorded a net margin of €56/t.
The NFS factsheet also examines the variation in financial performance across farms, the variation in technical performance witnessed and analyses the percentage of farms achieving selecting Teagasc Tillage 2027 Roadmap Targets.