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Key Findings

There were 133,174 farms in 2023, 56% classified as Specialist Beef

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • There were 133,174 farms. The mean farm size was 34.7 hectares.

  • The mean age of farm holders was 59.4 years. 87% of farm holders were male while 13% were female. 

  • There were 299,725 farm workers. 66% were male while 34% were female.

  • In 2023 there were 4,168 organic farms, a significant increase compared with 2020 when there were 1,686.

  • The number of tractors owned on farms was 201,260.

  • 5% of farms reported having a renewable energy source present on the farm.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17th December 2024) released the Farm Structure Survey Results 2023. 

Commenting on the release, Sophie Emerson, Statistician in the Agriculture Division, said: "The Farm Structure Survey provides a comprehensive snapshot of the agricultural activity on Irish farms in 2023. The results provide detail on the following categories of Irish agriculturefarm structure, farm holder demographics, livestock, land utilisation, organic farming, the agriculture labour force, standard output, farm machinery and soil management. 

Farm Structure

There were 133,174 farms in Ireland in 2023, a (-5%) decrease since 2013. The average (mean) farm size in Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) was 34.7 hectares (ha). The South-West region (Cork and Kerry) had the largest UAA on farms (868,776 ha) while the West region (Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) had the highest number of farms (30,204).More than half of farms were classified as Specialist Beef; 56%. 

Demographic Profile of Farm Holders

The mean age of farm holders was 59.4 years and 87% of farm holders were male while 13% were female.  Smaller farms were more likely to have a female holder, 17% of farms sized less than 10 ha had a female holder compared with 13% for all farm sizes. Specialist Dairying farms had the highest proportion of male holders; 93%.

Agriculture Labour Force

There were 299,725 farm workers in 2023, of which 66% were male while 34% were female. More than half (53%) of farm holders stated that farming was their sole occupation. Some 87% of workers were either the holder or a family member. Less than half (47%) of farm holders had a succession plan in place and of those that did, almost all (98%) indicated the successor was a family member.

Standard Output

The median value for Standard Output, which measures the value of a farm's agricultural outputs, in 2023 was just over €15,000, and was highest in the South-East region (Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford) at over €34,000 and lowest in the Border region (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo) at almost €11,000.

Land Utilisation and Livestock 

The total Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) excluding commonage was more than 4.6 million ha. Grassland accounted for 92% of agricultural land. The land area under cereals was nearly 270,000 ha, with Barley the most widely grown cereal which accounted for 69% of this total.

The number of cattle increased by approximately 440,000 (+6%) from 2013 to 2023. Over the same period, the average herd size rose from 62 to 72. There were more than 5.5 million sheep, up by more than 600,000 (+12.3%) since 2013. The average flock size for farms with sheep was 165. There were more than 1.7 million pigs 17.1 million Poultry in Ireland.

Organic Farming

There were 4,168 organic farms including those fully converted and under conversion. Most organic farms were classified as Specialist Beef farms (55%). Some 17% of holders of organic farms were female compared with 13% for all farms. The mean farm size of an organic farm was 43.2 ha while the mean size for all farms was 34.7 ha. There were nearly 500,000 sheep on organic farms, representing 9% of all sheep. There were more than 100,000 cattle and over 500,000 poultry on organic farms.

Farm Machinery and Renewable Energy

The number of tractors owned on farms was 201,260. Of these, 47% had an engine power ranging from 61 to 100 kW. Some 6,323 holdings in Ireland reported having at least one form of renewable energy source present on their farm, representing 5% of all farms. 

Soil Management

Nearly 590,000 ha of UAA were subject to drainage. Almost 450,000 ha of arable land were managed using conventional tillage practices."

Editor's Note

The Farm Structure Survey takes place in years that ends in 3 and 6.  It forms part of an EU-wide programme of agricultural statistic compilation carried out in 2023 under EU Regulation 2018/1091 on Integrated Farm Statistics. 

This release Farm Structure Survey 2023 Results outlines the key statistics on the structure of Irish farms in 2023. 

Farm Structure Survey data can be accessed using the CSO's open data portal, https://data.cso.ie/, or PxStat.

Acknowledgment

The CSO would like to acknowledge and thank the many farmers who completed their 2023 Farm Structure Survey questionnaires. Without their cooperation, this release would not be available. The CSO also wishes to acknowledge the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc. Data and expertise provided by the Department and Teagasc to the CSO feeds directly into many of these outputs.

Under the Statistics Act, 1993 all the information collected by the CSO for the Farm Structure Survey, from farms and from administrative sources, is strictly confidential and is used for statistical purposes only.