Northern Ireland’s farm income marks a 44% fall
5th November 2024
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has revealed that Northern Ireland’s total income from farming has fallen by 44% in 2023.
DAERA has just released its Statistical Review of Northern Ireland Agriculture 2023, which has shown that agricultural income of Northern Ireland farms decreased from £609 million in 2022 to £341 million in 2023.
The total income from farming (TIFF) is now 14% below the average of the last twenty years after accounting for inflation.
DAERA explained that the main factor behind the decrease of TIFF in 2023 was reduced milk prices, which were 21.3% down from their record high levels of the previous year.
Input costs also remained elevated when compared to historic levels, with gross input costs for the farm sector being 40% higher in 2023 than 2020 levels.
This was driven by marked increases in the prices for feed, fertiliser, electricity and fuels during this time. Unit prices for these inputs have reduced to some extent during 2023 compared to 2022 but remained elevated when compared to historic levels, the department confirms.
Farm business income
The report has also revealed the Farm Business Income (FBI), which is the headline measure of farm-level income used throughout the UK. An average farm business income increased from £43,252 in 2021/22 to £51,043 in 2022/23, an increase of £7,792 per farm.
However, it is expected to decrease from £51,043 in 2022/23 to £27,345 in 2023/24, which is 46% per farm.
The value of all direct payments to farmers decreased by 0.1% or £0.4 million, to £304.1 million in 2023.
The total cost of borrowings in the agriculture sector has increased by 47.7% to £90.3 million in 2023.
Agricultural labour force
52,676 people were employed in Northern Ireland’s farming sector in 2023, which marks a 1.8% increase from 2022. Farmers, their spouses and business partners have been accounted for 77% of the total agricultural labour force.
There were 26,131 active farm businesses in Northern Ireland in June 2023, which is a 0.2% increase from 2022.
The document has also confirmed that there have been no cases of BSE since 2012. During 2023 2,199 new herds in Northern Ireland were affected by bovine tuberculosis, compared with 2,253 in 2022.
Read more farm business news.
