Farmers producing food are making just €1 a day
THE average farmer now makes only €334 a year - less than €1 a day - from selling food, with everything else coming from subsidies.
Ninety-eight per cent of farm income now comes from EU direct payments and other types of subsidy while cattle and sheep farmers are losing an average of €4,000 a year by continuing to farm, the new National Farm Survey 2006 from Teagasc reveals.
The importance of subsidies to farmers' income has increased from 86pc in 2004, despite claims that the change to a single farm payment would free farmers to grow the most profitable foods.
Only dairy and tillage farmers are now making any real money from selling their produce, with the costs of producing food often outweighing the price farmers get for it, the survey shows.
Cattle farmers spend €4,056 more on raising their livestock than they can sell the beef for, and for sheep farmers the shortfall is €4,216 - which means that only their subsidy payments from Brussels keep them afloat.
Total farm income was down by 26pc in 2006 to just €16,680 on average, the figures show, little more than half the average industrial wage - mainly down to a fall in direct payments from Brussels.
But changes in the subsidy system meant 2005 figures were given a one-off artificial boost so, looked at since 2004, total farm income is up 7pc.
However, there has been a huge polarisation between the country's 37,200 full-time commercial farmers and the other 75,300 farmers who work part-time, according to Liam Connolly, head of Teagasc's National Farm Survey team.
Full-time farmers earned an average of €34,486 last year - these were mostly dairy, tillage and large beef farmers.
Part-time farmers, however, earned just €7,899 on average, down from €11,372 in 2005. On 37pc of farms, income was under €6,500 a year.
On 58pc of farms, the farmer and/or his spouse was also working outside the farm to supplement the income, while pensions and social welfare also contributed to many households.
Overall, only one-fifth of farms generate an income from farming greater than €25,000 while just 12pc earn more than €40,000 and, taking inflation into account, farm incomes are down 17pc in the past 10 years, Teagasc's survey of over 1,100 farms shows.
These statistics are "a wake-up call to policy makers, food processors and factories alike", said Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association president Malcolm Thompson.
"You cannot survive in an industry where your production costs outweigh profit. I would question the commitment of the Government to agriculture and, in particular, to the drystock sector," he said.
The fact that direct payments now make up 98pc of farm incomes shows the severe difficulties faced by beef farmers who have to contend with increased imports from Brazil and lamb producers who are threatened by New Zealand imports, said Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe.
Farmers continue to spend money on their farms, investing an average of €6,000 each last year.
- Aideen Sheehan
