National Farm Survey - 2023 Sustainability Report
29 October 2024
Type Report
Type Report
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This report provides the latest available information on the sustainability performance of farms in Ireland, based on detailed analysis of data collected through the Teagasc National Farm Survey. Economic, Social, Environmental and Innovation sustainability metrics are produced for Dairy, Cattle, Sheep and Tillage farms in 2023. The report also includes time series results over several years, which allows an assessment of how farm sustainability has changed temporally.
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Economic Sustainability
- All farm systems recorded their lowest average incomes in several years in 2023. This year was marked by a sharp decline in milk and cereal prices, lower production volumes, and high input costs exacerbated by poor weather conditions.
- The decline in dairy and tillage farm incomes in 2023 follows a year of record incomes in 2022.
- Livestock farms also saw a decline in income in 2023 due to high input prices and decreased output.
- Economic viability (where family labor is remunerated at or above minimum wage, and sufficient income is generated to provide an additional five percent return on non-land-based assets) was significantly challenged across all farm systems in 2023, with record lows recorded across dairy, sheep, and tillage farms.
Social Sustainability
- Due to economic viability issues, household vulnerability (defined as non-viable income levels without off-farm employment) increased notably across dairy, sheep, and tillage farms.
- Consistent with long-term trends, dairy farms tend to have a lower risk of isolation (living alone) compared to other farm systems. Fewer dairy farm households have a high age profile than households in other farm systems. Tillage farms also tend to outperform livestock farms on these social sustainability metrics.
- Conversely, dairy farming is typically labor-intensive. Results indicate that dairy farm operators work significantly more hours per year on the farm than the average operator in other systems. Given the hours required on the farm, relatively few dairy farmers work off-farm. However, even accounting for time spent working off-farm (notably in drystock systems), dairy farm operators tend to work more hours overall than operators in other farm systems.
Environmental Sustainability
- Due to the intensity of production, absolute gaseous emissions (GHG and NH₃) on dairy farms remain significantly higher than on livestock and arable farms. However, due to lower animal numbers and reduced fertilizer applications, absolute GHG emissions (per farm and per hectare) on dairy farms were lower in 2023 than in the previous two years. Yet, due to reduced milk output following challenging market conditions, GHG and NH₃ emissions per kilogram of milk increased in 2023. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances per hectare also declined in 2023 compared to previous years.
- Non-Dairy Systems: Farm-level and per-hectare GHG & NH₃ emissions on cattle, sheep, and tillage farms rose slightly in 2023 compared to the previous year, due to slight increases in animal inventories and fertilizer applications (in sheep and tillage systems). Nitrogen balances on cattle and tillage farms remained relatively stable, while sheep farms showed slight increases.
Innovation
- The transition towards using LESS (Low Emission Slurry Spreading) equipment for slurry application continued in 2023. In total, 81% of slurry on the average dairy farm and 38% on the average cattle farm was applied via LESS, with more slurry being spread in the early season.
- The percentage of chemical nitrogen applied in the form of protected urea is growing on dairy farms, reaching 27%. This trend is also evident on cattle farms, though it remains relatively low in absolute terms (6%).