Farm Structure Survey 2016

Number of Farms

• In 2016, there were 137,500 farms in Ireland.
• Almost 53% (72,500) of farms were located in the BMW region.

Farm Size

• The average farm size was 32.4 hectares.
• Farms were generally smaller in the BMW, averaging 27.1 hectares, compared to 38.3 hectares in the SE region.
• The Mid-East and Dublin region had the smallest number of farms (10,300) but the largest average farm size (42.4 hectares).
• Almost 43% of farms in Ireland were less than 20 hectares in size.
• Half of all farms in the BMW region were less than 20 hectares, while just over one in ten were 50 hectares and over.
• In the SE region, approximately one-third of farms were less than 20 hectares, while one quarter were 50 hectares and over.
• Almost 70% of farms of over 100 hectares were located in the SE region, while over 60% of farms of less than 10 hectares were in the BMW.

Farm Type

• Specialist Beef Production was the most common type of farming in Ireland, with 78,300 (57%) of farms falling into this category.
• Specialist Dairying (16,100) and Specialist Sheep (15,100) were the next most prominent types of farming.
• At national level, farms with the highest average number of hectares were those engaged in Specialist Dairying (59.2 hectares), Mixed Crops and Livestock (58.7 hectares) and Specialist Tillage (58.6 hectares).

Standard Output

• In 2016, the average Standard Output per farm was €45,855.
• The largest level of output was in the South-East region (€80,784) while the lowest was recorded in the West (€19,683).
• At national level, three out of every ten farms (43,600 farms or 31.7%) had a Standard Output of less than €8,000 per annum, while one in five (20.4%) had a Standard Output of €50,000 and greater.
• Of the 28,100 farms with a Standard Output of €50,000 or more, more than 70% were located in the SE region.
• Six out of ten farms with a Standard Output of less than €8,000 were in the BMW region.
• Just under 85% of farms with less than 10 hectares had a standard output of less than €8,000 in 2016.
• A small number of farms (300) with low levels of land (less than 10 hectares) had large Standard Outputs of €50,000 and more. These tend to be specialist farms, such as mushroom growing.
• In general, the larger the farm the greater the level of Standard Output.  Farms with a standard output of €100,000 or more, had on average 79 hectares. At the lower end of the scale, farms with the lowest level of Standard Output (less than €4,000) had an average farm size of just 9 hectares.
• Almost all Specialist Dairy farms (95%) had a Standard Output of at least €50,000 and more while 75% of such farms had an output of €100,000 and more.
• Just under half (46%) of all Specialist Sheep farms had a standard output of less than €8,000.