Farming worth €1.3 bn to Laois and Midlands but costs spike
Dairy has caused Laois and other counties in the Midland region to enjoy the largest growth rate in Agricultural operating surplus with farming not worth €1.3 billion to the region, according to the latest official figures.
The finding is contained in the Regional Accounts for Agriculture 2022 published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in October.
While the value of farming is rising, the national number crunchers also report that production costs have gone up by 30% with fertiliser bills doubling.
The value of the Midland (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath) region’s Agricultural Output at Basic Prices increased by 32% to €1.3bn.
The Midland region was the best performing region in 2022 in terms of the value of its operating surplus which grew by 51% to €317m.
The CSO says this was largely attributable to the region’s dairy producers, as a combination of both higher yields and dairy cow stocks resulted in the value of its milk production rising by 61% to €461m, the highest rate of growth in milk of all regions.
However, the CSO adds that the Midlands was the second smallest agricultural producing region in 2022, generating just 10% of the State’s output. It created 12% of the total value of Irish livestock and 9% of Irish Milk. It was the third largest pig producer, generating 18% of national output. The region was the smallest producer of crops, growing just 9% of the State’s total.
The CSO also reports on the region’s Intermediate Consumption costs. These increased by 30% or €197m to €864m.
The report says the cost of feeds grew by a third or €60m to €249m. Expenditure on fertilisers more than doubled by €69m to €134m while energy and lubricant costs rose by 41% or €22m to €77m.
Mairead Griffin is a Statistician in the Agricultural Accounts & Production Section, of the CSO. She commented on the overall findings from all regions.
“This release provides a regional breakdown of the country’s agricultural outputs, inputs, and income. While at a national level Operating Surplus grew by 28% in 2022, at a regional level the growth rates were spread between a low of 18% and a high of 51%.
“The significant spread of these rates can be explained by the composition of farm types within the regions. The performance of the different outputs, their relative importance to a region’s agriculture output and the rise in the main input costs incurred by the various farm types, all affected the regional rate of growth in Operating Surplus,” she said.
The CSO cereal and milk production were the best performers in 2022. The value of cereals increased by 60%, mainly due to prices rising by an average of 52%. milk also performed very well during the year, with stronger prices resulting in its value growing by 48%.
By comparison, the value of livestock production rose by just 14%.
The CSO said that while the value of almost all outputs grew in 2022, the impact of the higher output values was tempered by a 29% increase in Intermediate Consumption costs for the year. The cost of fertilisers doubled while the cost of feeding stuffs grew by 30%.
The CSO said that as expected, the regions with the highest dependency on livestock, namely the West and Border regions, both of whom depended on livestock to generate over half of the value of their Agricultural Output at Basic Prices, did not perform as well as other regions.
The analysis said these regions did however cut back sharply on their consumption of fertilisers, which was one of the main reasons they both saw increases in their Intermediate Consumption costs below the national average.