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Census of Agriculture 2020 - Preliminary Results

Land Utilisation

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X-axis labelTotal GrassRough GrazingTotal CerealsOther Crops and Horticulture
199176.714.56.82
200079.611.46.32.8
201082.79.661.8
202082.1105.92
  • The proportion of grassland was less than 80% of the Agricultural Area Utilised (AAU) on farms in Ireland in 1991 and 2000; it was 82.7% in 2010 and reduced slightly to 82.1% in 2020.
  • Rough grazing area has reduced over the 30-year period and there were 451,537 hectares of rough grazing land in use in 2020, up 3.3% on the 2010 total.
  • The area of cereals continues to reduce; the 2020 area of 265,592 was down 3.0% on the 2010 total.
  • The area of other crops, fruit and horticulture has fluctuated since 1991 and there has been a 15.2% increase between 2010 and 2020.
Table 5.1 Summary of land utilisation (1991 - 2020)

82.1%
Of Agricultural Area Utilised is under grassland
Map 5.1 Thumbnail

Map 5.1 Agricultural area utilised (hectares) by county, 2020

Map 5.2 Thumbnail

Map 5.2 Total grassland area (hectares) by county, 2020

Map 5.3 Thumbnail

Map 5.3 Rough grazing area (hectares) by county, 2020

Map 5.4 Thumbnail

Map 5.4 Commonage area (hectares) by county, 2020

  • The distribution by county of AAU and grassland broadly coincide (Maps 5.1 and 5.2). 
  • Counties with the largest agricultural areas also have the largest grassland areas.
  • Cork, Galway, Tipperary, Kerry, Mayo and Donegal all had greater than 250,000 hectares of agricultural area. 
  • Most rough grazing land was in Donegal, Kerry, Mayo and Galway in 2020 (Map 5.3).
  • Donegal (81,462 ha) and Kerry (78,613 ha) had the largest rough grazing areas in the state, while Galway and Mayo each had just 50,000 hectares of rough grazing. Those four counties, along with Cork and Clare, accounted for approximately three quarters of the rough grazing in the state.
  • Mayo, Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Wicklow had considerably more commonage than the other counties in 2020 (Map 5.4).
  • Combined these counties accounted for 327,460 hectares of the 421,287 hectares of commonage in the state, or 77.7%.

Revision made to data in Map 5.2 and subsequent text on 10 December 2021 due to input error. 
Table 5.2 Land utilisation by region and county, 2020

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Table 5.3 Silage, hay and pasture by region and county, 2020
Region and CountyGrass silage Hay Pasture
1st to 4th year's grass silage Permanent grass silage 1st to 4th year's hay Permanent hay Rotation under 5 years Permanent pasture
FarmsHectares FarmsHectares FarmsHectares FarmsHectares FarmsHectares FarmsHectares
State35,478383,896 69,700850,472 8,91347,668 17,34391,596 27,336421,603 92,8691,904,684
                  
Northern and Western14,226124,402 29,001272,379 3,15113,177 5,90723,922 10,183143,145 38,444648,211
Border6,59957,210 13,084123,851 1,3835,555 2,4859,895 4,77466,725 17,795300,457
Cavan1,48214,632 3,01131,904 244895 4621,889 1,04815,012 3,46660,062
Donegal1,96816,161 3,38930,091 4671,756 6752,629 1,48619,717 6,02697,720
Leitrim7996,567 1,78815,317 2131,019 4741,785 5549,004 2,25740,106
Monaghan 1,34811,819 2,68926,592 218726 3951,872 94711,276 3,13146,235
Sligo 1,0028,029 2,20719,948 2411,159 4791,720 73911,716 2,91556,335
                  
West7,62767,193 15,917148,529 1,7687,623 3,42214,026 5,40976,420 20,649347,754
Galway 2,98228,478 6,15962,564 8093,661 1,5236,732 2,16930,383 8,546147,942
Mayo3,17624,832 6,10849,554 5391,901 8482,961 2,11028,367 7,845119,556
Roscommon1,46913,883 3,65036,410 4202,060 1,0514,333 1,13017,670 4,25880,256
                  
Southern15,545191,053 28,608406,338 3,98322,358 7,62441,515 12,527198,446 37,343856,721
Mid-West5,19067,543 11,044154,257 1,5328,985 3,19116,488 4,13074,478 13,600323,573
Clare1,78119,136 3,77842,615 5372,636 1,0534,389 1,19818,862 4,17985,170
Limerick1,46321,454 3,16147,278 4873,043 1,0325,815 1,25823,585 3,94492,830
Tipperary1,94626,953 4,10564,364 5083,306 1,1066,284 1,67432,031 5,477145,573
                  
South-East3,60246,085 6,288101,062 1,0355,944 1,98812,451 2,98647,525 8,587208,676
Carlow4895,327 79210,342 1671,048 3271,974 3774,992 1,23725,550
Kilkenny1,06415,177 2,08337,437 2601,493 5943,510 92615,706 2,58269,215
Waterford75811,516 1,34724,813 1671,030 2901,740 71413,670 1,81653,755
Wexford1,29114,065 2,06628,470 4412,373 7775,227 96913,158 2,95260,155
                  
South-West6,75377,426 11,276151,019 1,4167,429 2,44512,576 5,41176,443 15,156324,473
Cork4,61955,268 7,424105,327 8114,679 1,4948,442 3,71653,665 9,542214,738
Kerry2,13422,158 3,85245,692 6052,750 9514,135 1,69522,778 5,614109,735
                  
Eastern and Midland5,70768,441 12,091171,754 1,77912,133 3,81226,160 4,62680,012 17,082399,751
Mid-East and Dublin2,34130,305 5,08677,463 8466,556 1,86914,376 2,10237,598 8,177199,000
Dublin59747 1872,454 47434 120801 58890 44710,113
Kildare4515,284 95114,274 1971,956 4674,109 4138,346 1,72543,369
Louth3914,183 7228,938 121657 2471,605 3254,307 1,03219,578
Meath88113,104 2,15336,035 2962,243 6615,191 77915,350 3,17081,136
Wicklow5596,987 1,07315,762 1851,267 3742,671 5278,706 1,80344,805
                  
Midland3,36638,136 7,00594,291 9335,577 1,94311,783 2,52442,414 8,905200,751
Laois92810,661 1,71525,014 2571,640 5003,319 73711,522 2,19448,187
Longford6666,196 1,50616,169 167650 3661,718 5238,024 1,77233,601
Offaly97711,251 1,85425,661 2771,757 5963,606 70012,002 2,36654,011
Westmeath79510,027 1,93027,448 2321,530 4813,141 56410,866 2,57364,952
Open in Excel: Census of Agriculture 2020 Table 5.3 (XLS 15KB)
Visit Table AVA32 on PxStat
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X-axis labelWheatOatsBarleyNumber of Farms
199185652.120588.3193396.723183
200077966.416815182308.114791
201077823.619706.7174799.811374
202046969.925407.6193186.19401
  • The total number of farms producing cereals has declined since 1991. 23,183 farms grew cereals in 1991 and this has decreased by 59.4% to 9,401 in 2020. There was a 17.3% reduction in the number of farms growing cereals between 2010 and 2020.
  • The area of wheat was relatively stable in 2000 and 2010 at approximately 78,000 hectares. In 2020, there was an area of 46,970 hectares grown, a decrease of 39.6% on the 2010 area.
  • In 2020, the area of oats was 25,408 hectares, up 28.9% on the 2010 area.
  • The area of barley decreased between 1991 and 2010, but the 2020 area of 193,186 hectares (a 10.5% increase on 2010) was similar to the area in 1991.
  • Between 1991 and 2000 there was a 7.5% decrease in total cereal area; between 2000 and 2010 there was a 1.8% decrease and since 2010 the area of cereals has decreased by 3.0%. Overall, the total area of cereals has declined by 11.9% since 1991.
Table 5.4 Number of farms with cereals and cereal area (1991 - 2020)

17.3%
Decrease in the number of cereal farms in 2020
3.0%
Decrease in the area of cereals in 2020
  • Wexford, Cork, Meath and Kildare had the greatest area of cereals grown in 2020 (Table 5.5). These four counties accounted for half the cereals grown in the state (50.5%).
  • There were 8,657 hectares of cereals grown in the counties of the Northern and Western NUTS 2 region. These eight counties accounted for 3.3% of cereals grown.
X-axis labelArea of Wheat (ha)
Meath9336.3
Kildare7253.8
Dublin4593.1
Louth4094.1
Cork4024.3
Wexford3948.3
Tipperary2696.1
Carlow2361.9
Wicklow2014.2
Kilkenny1380.6
Laois1329.7
Offaly935.1
Waterford808.4
All Other2194.4
  • The growing of wheat was concentrated in the Mid-East and Dublin region. Meath, Kildare, Dublin and Louth had the four highest areas of wheat in 2020. 
  • These four counties accounted for more than half the area of wheat grown in the state (53.8%). 
X-axis labelArea of Barley (ha)
Wexford35404.9
Cork29063.7
Kildare17627.2
Meath15969.8
Tipperary14450.5
Laois12063.8
Carlow10753.8
Louth10239
Kilkenny10141.2
Wicklow7559.2
Offaly7115.4
Dublin5904.9
Waterford4707.8
All Other12184.7
  • Wexford, Cork, Kildare, Meath and Tipperary all had over 14,000 hectares of barley in 2020. 
  • These five counties accounted for just less than 60% of the barley grown in the state.
X-axis labelArea of Oats (ha)
Wexford3297.6
Meath2948.5
Kildare2785.6
Tipperary2485.5
Cork2334.9
Carlow1773.7
Kilkenny1682.9
Louth1432.6
Laois1286.2
Wicklow1153.2
Waterford947.1
Offaly641.1
Galway528.3
Dublin522.7
Westmeath459.7
Donegal452.7
All Other675.6
  • Wexford, Meath, Kildare, Tipperary and Cork were the only counties with over 2,000 hectares of oats in 2020. 
  • These five counties accounted for approximately 55% of the oats grown in the state.
Table 5.5 Cereals, other crops and horticulture by region and county, 2020

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