Irish tillage farmers are now producing the highest cereal yields in the world, according to Mr Tom Thomas, head of the Teagasc Research Centre in Carlow.
He said new technologies developed by the scientists at the Agriculture and Food Development Authority's research centres, coupled with international technology adapted to Irish conditions, had brought this about.
"What has happened can only be described as a revolution in Irish yields in recent decades," Mr Thomas told the National Tillage Conference in Carlow.
"All these advances would have had limited impact unless they were applied successfully by a corps of Irish tillage farmers with high technical and managerial skills," he said.
"The success is all the more spectacular given the relatively wet Irish climate which greatly favours diseases which, if not controlled, can reduce yields by over 50 per cent."
Mr Thomas said that while only 8 per cent of farmland was occupied by tillage, it made a huge contribution to the national economy. The process value of the sector was now over £1 billion.
It supplied, he said, the raw materials for the animal feed sector, flour for the bakeries, grain for the drinks industry and beet for the sugar and confectionery industries.
At the conference, Mr Paddy Browne, chief tillage adviser with Teagasc, said a recent Teagasc survey had shown that the larger tillage farmers felt they had to double their acreage in order to survive over the coming decade.
He said the main conclusion of the survey was that farmers felt that a minimum of 500 acres of tillage would be necessary for them to survive. Asked what they thought would be the best means of achieving this, the farmers said they regarded land-leasing over a minimum of five years as the best option.
The survey of 150 top growers showed that renting land on the "con-acre" system (a one-year rental) was not the preferred option. Until now, this has been the most common option for tillage farmers.
Mr Browne said there was still an enormous gap between the production efficiency of the top- and poorest-performing farms in the county.
Last year, he said, top winter wheat-growers achieved a margin of £250 per acre, compared to £69 per acre for the poorest performers. High machinery costs were the main reason for the lowest margins.
