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Farm Structure Survey 2013

Key Findings

Table A - Number of farms, Average Farm Size and Average Standard Output, by Region

	State	Border Midland & West	Southern & Eastern
Total Farms ('000s)	139.6	73.6	66.0
Average Farm Size (ha)	32.5	27.1	38.6
Average Standard Output	€35,912	€23,013	€50,303

In 2013 there were 139,600 farms in Ireland. More than half (52.7%) of all farms were located in the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) region.
The average farm was 32.5 hectares.
Farms in the Southern and Eastern (SE) region were 42.4% larger than those in the BMW region, with average farm sizes of 38.6 hectares compared to 27.1 hectares respectively.

Almost one in five of all farms (17.9%) were 50 hectares or more in size while just over two in five farms (42.7%) had less than 20 hectares.
Over 60% of farms of 10 hectares or less were in the BMW region, while over 72% of farms of 100 hectares or more were in the SE region.

Specialist beef production continued to be the most common farm type or activity, accounting for over half of all farms in 2013 (78,800).
Over two thirds of Specialist sheep farms were in the BMW region (67.3%), while the SE Region contained almost 80% of Specialist tillage farms (79.2%) and Specialist dairying farms (78.8%).
Specialist beef production was more common in the BMW, where it accounted for almost two thirds (62.9%) of all farms. In contrast just under half (49.2%) of farms in the SE region were engaged in Specialist beef production.

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	State
Specialist Tillage	3.8
Specialist Dairying	11.2
Specialist Beef Production	56.5
Specialist Sheep	10.7
Mixed and other Farm Types	17.8

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	State
Mixed Grazing Livestock	9.4
Mixed Crops and Livestock	1.9
Mixed Field Crops	5.7
Other	0.9

	Grassland (excl. Rough Grazing)	Cereals	Other Crops, Fruit and Horticulture	Rough Grazing	Commonage
State	3640.9	307.9	83.1	424.2	423.1
Border	593.9	24	9.3	111.3	105.4
Midland	387.5	32.9	6.8	17	2.1
West	665.1	5.5	4.1	97.8	169.6
Mid-East and Dublin	312.9	84.6	22.2	18.8	29.8
Mid-West	502	9.9	3.2	40.2	7.6
South-East	547.1	105.3	22.6	25.1	26
South-West	632.4	45.7	14.9	114	82.6

The total amount of Agricultural Area (including commonage) used in 2013 was just under 5 million hectares (4.96 million). Just over one half (54.2%) was located in the SE Region and the remainder in the BMW Region.
Excluding commonage, a total of 4.536 million hectares were farmed in 2013.
Most of the main land farmed was Grassland (81.4%).
Almost two thirds of the total commonage (423,000 hectares) was located in the BMW Region, while over one half of rough grazing land was located there (53.0%).
The SE Region contained almost 80% of the total land devoted to cereals and over half of all grassland (54.7%).

Average Standard Output per farm was €35,912 in 2013. Standard output is the average monetary value of agricultural output at farm-gate prices. (See Background Notes)
Standard Output in the SE Region was just over €50,000, more than twice that of the BMW Region (€23,013).
The largest level of output was in the South-East region (€62,792) while the lowest was recorded in the West (€15,321).
Almost 30,000 farms had an SO of less than €4,000, 60% of which were in the BMW region. In contrast, almost 75% of the 24,000 farms with an SO of €50,000 or more were in the SE region.
Six out of ten farms with standard output less than €8000 were in the BMW Region.

Table B - Number of farms, number of animals and average number of animals per farm in each region - 2013
('000)
	Number of farms	Number of animals	Average animals per farm
State
Cattle	111.3	6,902.6	62
Sheep	36.6	4,942.2	135
Pigs	1.3	1,551.7	1,194
Poultry	8.1	10,133.2	1,251
Border, Midland and West
Cattle	58.6	2,625.1	45
Sheep	23.7	2,749.9	116
Pigs	0.6	744.0	1,240
Poultry	4.0	6,960.1	1,740
Southern and Eastern
Cattle	52.7	4,277.5	81
Sheep	12.9	2,192.3	170
Pigs	0.7	807.7	1,154
Poultry	4.1	3,173.1	774

In 2013 there were 6.9 million cattle in Ireland, 62% of which were located in the SE Region.
Of the 1.163 million dairy cows in 2013, 80% were in the SE Region.
There was a total of 4.9 million sheep in Ireland in 2013. Just over one half (55.6%) were located in the BMW Region.
The highest number of sheep was in the West with just over 1.3 million, representing more than one quarter of the total national flock (26.5%).
In 2013 there were 1.552 million pigs in Ireland. More than one quarter of these were located in the Border.
Ireland had more than 10 million poultry in 2013. The vast majority of these (68.7%) were located in the BMW Region with the Border having the greatest concentration (6.65 million birds or 65.6% of the total).

Table C - Comparsion of Structure of farming in Ireland 2010 - 2013
	2010	2013	% change
Total farms	139,860	139,600	-0.20%
Average farm size (hectares)	35.7	35.5	-0.6%
Average standard output (€)	30,726	35,912	16.9%
Total UAA (hectares)	4,994,353	4,959,500	-0.7%
Total Cattle	6,606,585	6,902,600	4.5%
Total Sheep	4,745,424	4,942,200	4.1%
Total Pigs	1,516,291	1,551,700	2.3%
Total Poultry	10,924,807	10,133,200	-7.2%
Total Labour Input (AWU)	162,345	166,700	2.7%

The number of farms and the average farm size remained relatively stable between 2010 and 2013.
The average standard output increased by 16.9% in the three-year period, from €30,726 to €35,912.
There was some increase in the total number of cattle (+4.5%), sheep (+4.1%) and pigs (+2.3%).
The total number of poultry in the country decreased by 7.2% to 10,133,200 birds.
The total labour input increased by 2.7% between 2010 and 2013 to 166,700 Annual Work Units (AWU). One AWU is 1,800 hours or more of labour input per person per annum.