More farmers availing of off-farm income

It is evident that the gap between the incomes earned by different farming systems has grown in recent years, according to Professor Frank O’Mara, Director of Teagasc, who addressed the Nuffield International Triennial in Ireland at Queen’s University on May 18th.

Delivering a presentation titled ‘Profitability, Productivity and Resilience in the agri-food sector’ which was heavily informed by the Teagasc National Farm Survey data, Professor O’Mara first provided an overview of incomes generated on Irish farms.

Volatility within family farm income, he commented, is becoming increasingly evident, particularly within the dairy and tillage sectors. In the drystock sector, direct payments are more important in determining family farm income, and they tend to dampen volatility because they don’t fluctuate from year-to-year.

Looking ahead to farm incomes for 2026, data compiled by the Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department at Teagasc at the beginning of 2026 led to a forecast of a significant decline of 41% in dairy family farm income for 2026, or moving from an estimated €137,000 in 2025 to €80,000 in 2026. Cattle rearing family farm income on the other hand was forecast to decline from €30,000 to €29,000 over the same period.  Since then, Professor O’Mara explained that poor weather conditions at times since the start of the year, depressed milk and beef prices, unrest due to conflict in the middle east and heightened energy costs are forecast to have an impact on the incomes returned at farm level.

Table 1: NFS Family Farming Income 2023, 2024, 2025e and 2025f (€,000)

*Specialist COP: specialist cereal, oilseed and protein (COP) producing farms

Given the evident volatility witnessed in family farm incomes, Professor O’Mara noted that Teagasc has placed a strategic focus on increasing the competitiveness and resilience of the agri-food sector. From this perspective, resilient farming systems need to withstand known and unforeseen challenges such as product price and cost variation, fertiliser supply chain issues, animal and plant diseases, market access, climate change impacts and generational renewal, Professor O’Mara explained.

For further insights, download the Situation and Outlook for Irish Agriculture 2026 here.

Off-farm income

Interestingly, Professor O’Mara also tracked changes in the number of farm holders in receipt of an off-farm income between 2015 and 2024, pointing to sizable differences between dairy farmers and other enterprises.

More farmers in the cattle rearing (suckler farmers), cattle other (finishers), sheep and tillage sectors are availing of off farm opportunities, he explained, with 43.4% of farm holders nationally availing of an off-farm income in 2024. However, just over 10.6% of dairy farm holders were in receipt of off-farm income in 2024, an increase of 1.2% since 2015.  He related this to the trends in family farm income and pointed out that off-farm income helps the resilience of these farms. Given this trajectory and as a means of supporting the future resilience of the sector, Teagasc will showcase and disseminate labour efficient practices to both full-time and part-time farmers, enabling farmer operators achieve a better work-life balance, and will provide more targeted education and advisory support for part-time farmers.

Table 2: Farm holder with off-farm income (2015 and 2024)

Generational renewal

On generational renewal, Professor O’Mara outlined that the Commission on Generational Renewal reported to the Minister last year, with many recommendations to support the entry of young people into farming. He also provided an overview of the age demographics of Irish farmers. The average age of Irish farmers is 59, he explained, with 34% of farmers being over 60 years of age. Of this latter cohort, 60% of farmers have identified a successor. As to actions being taken by Teagasc in this area, Professor O’Mara explained:

“Teagasc plays a pivotal role in attracting, supporting, and establishing younger generations in farming.  Central to this is facilitating the transfer of farm ownership and management between generations.

“Initiatives such as our Transferring the Family Farm Clinics and Generational Renewal Week raised awareness and provided farm families with financial, legal, and practical advice on succession planning.

“Collaborative farming models such as partnership arrangements were emphasised as stepping stones for phased transitions.  In addition, ongoing collaborative research continues to inform and support targeted policy mechanisms,” Professor O’Mara commented.

Productivity

Within any enterprise, there is a lot of variation in margins between farms, a lot of which is due to better productivity, efficiency and use of technology.  This points to improvements in productivity being important for improving profitability, and this was also discussed as part of Professor O’Mara’s presentation.

He firstly looked at the productivity progress Irish agriculture that has made from the 1970s. From a dairy perspective, an upward trajectory has been witnessed in milk yield per cow, milk fat percentage and milk protein percentage. Beef carcass output and beef carcass weight has increased significantly over the period 1973 to 2022, with average carcass weight increasing 27% (260kg versus 329kg). In terms of the trends witnessed in tillage, Professor O’Mara explained that yield increases of 149%, 100% and 138%, respectively have been witnessed in wheat, barley and oat yields per hectare between 1973 and 2023.

“Progress in productivity is continuing,” Professor O’Mara added, pointing to some of the stand out achievements, such as an increased uptake in sexed semen usage at dairy farm level, additional milk solids production, more fertile and productive dairy herds through the use of the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), increased number of pigs born alive per litter, and moderate increases in grass production on beef farms.

To continue this trajectory, he pointed delegates to the Teagasc Road Map Series 2030, which outline current performance, market outlook, sustainability priorities and future targets for the Irish agricultural and food sector. In concluding, he highlighted the critical role that Research and Knowledge Transfer play in profitability, productivity and resilience.

For further insights, Professor O’Mara’s full presentation is available to view here: Profitability, Productivity and Resilience in the agri-food sector (PDF)