Cost Pressures Continue to Impact on Farm Incomes

IFA President Francie Gorman said today’s CSO figures for agriculture in 2023 show that farmers are still caught in a ‘cost-price’ squeeze.

“While input costs have reduced by 5.5%, the price paid to farmers has fallen further by 8.2% over the 12-month period, resulting in the terms of trade falling by 2.9% when compared to 2022. This is on top of a 6.2% decline in 2022. This means the bottom line for farmers has disimproved by about 9% in the last two years,” he said.

Francie Gorman said the net effect for farmers is that the shock to the system of spiralling input costs, caused primarily by the Ukraine war, is still having a big impact.

“What today’s CSO figures show is that others in the food chain have to recognise the pressures on farmers. They cannot expect quality food to arrive on supermarket shelves at a loss to the primary producer,” he said.

The price farmers receive for milk is down 39% from 2022, with cereals down by almost 32%.  These reductions are substantially more than the single digit decrease seen on their input costs.

The IFA President said part of the frustration for farmers is that the cost of regulation is adding to the overall burden on farmers.

“The message from our recent protest is that farmers cannot be taken for granted. Our Government and the EU Commission have to take this into account when it comes to designing farm policy,” he concluded.