AVERAGE family farm income increased by 6.4 per cent to £9,644 last year, while almost half of all farms still had an income of less than £5,000,
National Farm Survey has shown.
The survey, carried out Teagasc, the agriculture and development authority, found that 52 per cent of farms benefitted from the increase, while the rest showed no change or a decline.
The survey also showed the changing nature of farming. On 36.5 per cent of farms the farmer and/or his spouse had an off-farm job, while on 83 per cent of farms with an income of less than £5,000 there was another source of income.
The most important off-farm income came by way of direct payments from the EU and the Government, which now account for 48 per cent of average family farm income, an increase of 7 per cent over 1994 figures. The report said that had these payments not increased, farm income would have declined last year.
Direct payments accounted for 82 per cent of income on cattle farms, 65 per cent on tillage farms and 105 per cent on sheep farms which would have returned a negative income without them.
Again dairying returned the highest average income per farm, at about £19,500. Tillage farms averaged £17,000, sheep farms £5,700 and cattle farms £4,800.
Dairying also continues to give the highest income per acre, at £250, compared to the tillage system at £150 per acre, cattle £97 per acre and sheep, £70 per acre.
Almost 50 per cent of specialist dairy farms had a gross margin per acre in excess of £400, according to the report, but only a small number of cattle farms, no sheep farms and only 10 per cent of tillage farms could achieve this.
The authors of the report, Mr Dick Power and Mr Maurice Roche, found that 1995 was the fourth successive year of increased farm incomes. In line with this, farm investment has been picking up since 1993.
The report said that the 38 per cent increase in farm investment in 1995 is quite exceptional and unlikely to be repeated this year because of the impact of the BSE crisis.
The survey showed that while 1995 was a good year, the 6.4 per cent increase was a result of a 9 per cent increase in gross output and a 10 per cent increase in total costs.
The survey also found that loans outstanding at the end of 1995 increased by 4 per cent on the previous year but new borrowings were considerably less than new investment.
It also found that 3 per cent of farmers had loans outstanding going into 1996. These varied from 64 per cent for the dairying sector to 16 per cent of the cattle rearing systems. Over half the amounts outstanding were less than £10,000.