Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021
806. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of dairy farmers with a family farm income of less than €20,000, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61910/21]
View answerTeagasc's National Farm Survey is carried out on an annual basis on a representative sample of farms to cover all farm enterprises with a standard output of greater than €8,000. The NFS represents 93,244 farms nationally but does not provide a breakdown of results by county.
According to the Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) 2020, there were 16,074 dairy farms in 2020.
1,888 (12%) of these dairy farms had a family farm income (FFI) less than €20,000. This data is broken down at NUTS II level as follows: 252 in the Eastern and Midland region (13% of dairy farms in that region); 362 in the northern and western region (15%); and 1,274 in the southern region (11%). The average FFI on all dairy farms is estimated to have increased by 28% in 2021, to around €95,000, up from €74,200 in 2020. This increase is due to the combination of a 16% increase in milk prices and a 6% increase in milk production in 2021.
