Peadar Tóibín
Ceist:59. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farms in Ireland in each of the past ten years. [17665/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 25 April 2024
Ceisteanna (59)
Freagraí ó Béal (11 píosaí cainte)
In 2011, 73,000 people declared their occupation to be farmers. In 2016, this had fallen to approximately 69,000 people who declared their occupation to be farmers. In the 2022 census, this had fallen again to 61,000 people who declared their occupation to be farmers. This is an 11% decrease and an acceleration in the number of people who are no longer self-identifying as a farmer because farming is becoming a smaller element of their occupation. I want to get the up-to-date numbers for where we are at with farming at the moment.
My Department monitors the information on farms and the wider agrifood sector. We do that in collaboration with Teagasc and the Central Statistics Office, and that is ongoing at all times.
The number of farms in Ireland is recorded every ten years in the CSO census of agriculture, most recently in 2010 and 2020. In addition, the CSO undertakes farm structure surveys periodically between censuses. Those happened in 2013 and 2016.
The total number of farms recorded in the 2010 census of agriculture in Ireland was 139,860, with a similar figure recorded in the 2013 farm structure survey. The 2016 farm structure survey recorded 137,500 farms, while the 2020 census of agriculture shows the figure standing at 135,000. There was, therefore, a reduction of approximately 4,800 farms between the 2010 and 2020 censuses, representing a decrease of 3.4% in the decade. This is a slight reduction overall in farm numbers and this was matched with a steady increase in the average size of agricultural holdings.
According to the latest census of agriculture, over 96% of the 135,000 farm holdings in Ireland are operated as family farms, representing more than 130,000 farms in 2020. The CSO defines "family farms" as farms which are operated as family-based enterprises.
I remain fully committed to the family farm model. Food Vision 2030, our shared strategy for the sustainable development of the sector, is clear in laying out the importance of the family farm model to social sustainability. The design of the current CAP strategic plan and the significant funding we are putting in, including the record 50% increase this Government has delivered in national funding of the CAP, reflects the fact we want to support family farms, the continuation of farming and the number of those participating in it.
It is interesting there is such a disparity between the numbers the Minister has quoted, which are correct according to the census, and the number of people who are declaring as farmers. Fewer people are declaring as farmers because they must have another occupation when they cannot make enough money from their farms. In the census, they declare they are not farmers but are something else. That shows us that something is changing in the sector behind those figures.
What is the average age of farmers? Some 33% of farmers are now over the age of 65, which again shows the direction in which Irish farming is moving. Farms are getting bigger. We have a system of managed decline of the farming sector by this Government. If it is not managed decline, then the Government is failing to stop the decline. It is either managed decline or the Government is failing in its objective to stop the decline in farming. There are many threats. Farming is in a sea of threats at the moment. Those issues include cost increases, the structure of the food market, the Green Party and regulation from the EU. All of those issues are creating significant difficulties for farmers at the moment.
I do not agree at all with the Deputy's portrayal of the situation. The Government massively supports the family farm structure and family farmers. Over the past generation, we have seen a growing number of part-time farms. Farms may not be able to compete with the employment opportunities in the wider economy now, but the fact those family farmers stay farming is a reflection of the considerable commitment they have to keeping farming enterprise as a part of their income and a reflection of the Government's commitment to supporting them. As I say, we have increased by 50% the funding to this CAP, with €200 being delivered per suckler cow. I have doubled support for the sheep sector to €20 per ewe from the €10 that was in place. I have accepted everyone into the agri-environmental scheme. The largest ever number of farmers are now taking part in that scheme. That is something we want to continue.
If we go back 30 or 40 years, a 30-acre farm would have meant a full-time income in Ireland. The state of the wider economy meant we were not as wealthy a country and farmers did a lot more of their produce at farm level. Indeed, farm produce that is exported is tied to world export prices, and that remains the case. Farming does not compete as well with the job opportunities that are available in the wider economy because we are now a very developed economy. We want to ensure every family farm that wants to remain a family farm does so. That is why we are investing massively and it is why farmers are continuing to take up the farm enterprise. That is something I, as Minister, will continue to support in every way possible.
The Minister's answer is, to an extent, an admission that farming, in comparison with other income streams, is falling. He said that because the income in farming is now lower than in much of the rest of the economy, people are getting out of farming. Why is income lower in farming? Why do we have a food sector that is phenomenally profitable but where the profit lands in the factory and supermarket and not in the farms? It is because the structure of the market is an oligopoly, which has been allowed to happen by the lack of competitive protections from the Government. That is the main element. Cost and regulation increases are affecting farmers radically. It is not worth it for farmers to remain in the sector, and that is the bottom line.
The Government creates many schemes, which is like welfare for the managed decline of farming. Farmers would rather not have to have all these schemes. They would rather be able to make a decent income from the factories and supermarkets for their products. I urge the Government to focus. How do we ensure farmers are properly paid for all their produce? How do we ensure the factories and supermarkets are not making enormous profits and paying taxes in, for example, Luxembourg. Why do we allow that system to happen?
As the Deputy knows, we are the first Government ever to set up an agrifood regulator to ensure fair play for farmers in the marketplace. This is the first Government do to have done that. It was a commitment I made to farmers and we have delivered. I do not think the Deputy understands the farming sector very well. The key piece of legislation of Aontú-----
The Minister supported that legislation when he was in opposition.
-----is intended to set a price and allow for intervention. We export 90% of our food but the Deputy feels it is simply a matter of passing legislation to set what that price should be and all will be well with the world. That is the sort of fairytale he peddles. I grew up on a family farm, the income from which was our sole income. We milked our own cow every morning and grew our own vegetables, including potatoes. We killed a heifer and a sheep every year. The income and lifestyle we had growing up on our family farm was comparable with what was happening in the country because we were not as wealthy a country at the time and there were no other job opportunities. You were lucky if you were able to grow your own produce. We still have that family farm at home but it is now a part-time rather than a full-time farm. That is the situation on many farms and reflects the commitment that families have to those farms. As Minister, I am committed to ensuring that even if a farm is being farmed part time or full time, we make it worth the time of the farmer to farm it. We have done that through the schemes and funding we have put in place. We have also done so through the agrifood regulator, which is working to ensure farmers get fair play in the marketplace. The Deputy must remember that we operate in a world marketplace that sets the price. No matter what legislation he might make up or whatever fairytale he might be peddling, there is no way he will change that.
May I come back at that? That is a shocking thing to say.
It is not.
The Deputy can take up the matter with Minister.
Question No. 60 taken with Written Answers