THE IRISH Farmers' Association president, Pádraig Walshe, has described as "no more than a flash in the pan" yesterday's announcement that farm incomes increased last year by 18 per cent.
Teagasc figures showed that on average, farm incomes increased to €19,687 last year, driven by higher milk and cereal prices.
However, it also reported that average sheep farm incomes declined by as much as 10 per cent, to €10,682, due to lower revenue from sheep sales.
Average farm income on suckler (beef farms) dropped from €8,291 in 2006 to €7,702 in 2007 - a decline of 7 per cent, due mainly to higher costs.
Liam Connolly, head of the National Farm Survey team at the agriculture and food development authority, said many sheep and beef farms were using their single farm payment and off-farm income to support their on-farm activity.
"Market-based output from suckler systems, which account for almost one-quarter of all farms in the country, was €12,755 per farm, whilst total production costs were €17,816, resulting in a loss from the market place of € 5,061," he said.
"Because the beef farmers are such a large group and the beef industry is so important to exports, they are in an extremely precarious position considering what is going on in relation to the World Trade negotiations," he said.
Mr Connolly said that the largest increase occurred on the more commercial, full-time farms where incomes and output were much higher in 2007, averaging €43,900 compared to €34,500 in 2006, an increase of 27 per cent.
"In fact there are about 40,000 farmers, mainly in tillage and dairying, who are earning the average industrial wage and see a future in the industry," he said.
He said that last year saw the highest annual level of investment ever recorded on Irish farms. Gross on-farm investment increased by a massive 76 per cent, amounting to an estimated €1.4 billion nationally.
The average gross investment on farms that did invest in 2007 was €21,000, amounting to 80 per cent of their farm income. Dairy farms accounted for almost half of this investment.
Ann Kinsella of Teagasc said that on 58 per cent of farms, the farmer and/or spouse had an off-farm job, identical to the figure for 2006. She said that on 41 per cent of these farms, the job was held by the farmer. Mr Connolly said that since 2000 there had been ups and downs in farm income but overall, taking inflation into account, farm income had increased by about 2 per cent per annum.
The IFA president said 2007 was the most favourable environment in the past 20 years. Already this year, input costs were up by 25 per cent and processors were driving product prices down. "The Teagasc figures confirm that average income for farmers, even in a good year, was less than half the average earnings in the public sector. Earnings by full-time farmers were completely inadequate to reward the investment in stock and machinery that is necessary to earn this," he concluded.