BY SYLVIA POWNALL

FARM incomes rose across all sectors last year as the industry continues its recovery from a difficult 2023, a new Teagasc report shows.

The latest Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) indicates that the average farm income increased in 2025 to more than €53,800 which is up 49% on the previous year.

The growth was driven by continued improvement in farm output prices, with significantly strong gains for cattle rearing, beef and dairy farmers.

As a result, over half of the farms in the 2025 survey were considered economically viable, a sharp improvement on the previous year.

Dairy farmers earned the most last year, reporting an average farm income of €153,300, an increase of 41% on 2024 figures. The increase reflected stronger milk prices, increased milk output, and higher revenues from the sale of calves for beef.

However, Teagasc noted that while the average income on dairy farms ‘considerably exceeds that of other farm systems, the intensive nature and larger scale of dairy farms mean that they require a higher level of labour input than on any of the other farm systems’.

Average incomes on cattle rearing farms – which typically focus on suckler beef production – rose by 74% to a record €24,100 thanks largely to higher demand and higher prices for beef. The report described this level of income as ‘unprecedented’.

However beef finishing and store cattle enterprises recorded the strongest income growth rate of any farm system last year with the average income up 81% to €32,800.

Sheep farm earnings were up a ‘modest’ 7% to just over €29,300, while tillage farm incomes saw a boost of 33% to an average income of €54,900, off the back of improvements in cereal yields.

Across all farm systems, the average family farm income rose to just over €53,800. The report noted that ‘looking across the last five years there has been considerable volatility in all incomes across all farm systems’.

It added: ‘The five-year average (2021-2025) income levels are considerably below the incomes achieved in 2025.’

It found that over half of farms were economically viable which was a ‘sharp improvement on the previous year’, but countered: ‘While incomes improved in all farm systems, substantial differences remain between the incomes achieved in dairy farming relative to other farm systems.’