Agriculture

The Irish Agri-Food Industry

"The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) currently reports the agri-food sector in Ireland contributes a value of €24 billion to the national economy, generates 6.3% of gross value added, almost 10% of Ireland’s exports and provides 7.7% of national employment. When employment in inputs, processing and marketing is included, the agri-food sector accounts for almost 10% of employment." (Information from http://www.teagasc.ie/agrifood/)

Teagasc

Source: http://www.teagasc.ie/

Teagasc is the agriculture and food development authority of Ireland. Its website provides information about current research, education and training of Ireland's agriculture and food industry. They also have information about energy, its resources, and land use. 

Land Use Facts

• Irish agriculture is primarily a grass-based industry. 
• The Census of Agriculture 2010 early results just published showed there were 139,829 farms compared to 141,527 farms in June 2000. The utilized agricultural area increased by 2.8% over the ten year period.
• The land area of Ireland is 6.9million hectares, of which about 4.2million hectares is used for agriculture or about 64% of total land area and 745,456 hectares for forestry or about 10.8% of total land.
• Approximately 80% of agricultural area is devoted to grass (silage, hay and pasture), 11% (0.46 million ha) is in rough grazing and the remainder circa 9% (0.38 million ha) is allocated to crop production.
• Beef and milk production currently account for around 58% of agricultural output at producer prices.

*Note: 1 ha= 1 hectare= 10,000 sq. meters

Crops

Source: http://www.teagasc.ie/

Ireland is a net importer of cereal grains, but there is a very specialized and efficient group of growers producing grain in Ireland for the home market. Spring Barley is the most popular cereal crop grown by farmers and is used for the malting, seed and feed industries in the country for farm animals. Winter wheat, winter barley, as well as winter and spring oats are some of the other important grain crops produced for the agri-food industry. 

Potatoes

Source: www.potatoes.com

Potatoes have been an important part of Irish agriculture for many years; as know of the potato famine or Ireland affected many families in its previous history. Potato is the world’s third most important food crop with global acreage rising faster than that of any other crop due to its high yield potential and nutritional characteristics. Teagasc has been conducting research on potatoes since the 1960s. The "potato breeding programme" was initiated in 1962. It screens 100,000 seedlings each year. Thirty varieties for both national and international markets have been successfully developed. The primary potato disease remains Phytophthora infestans (late blight), it is responsible for €1,000,000,000 of annual losses in the EU alone. Teagasc conducts research on the ability of Irish strains to cause disease and how varieties respond to threats. They use the research in order to develop new farming techniques and create sustainable crops.

Other Goods

Source: http://www.teagasc.ie/

Other goods both imported and exported are milk, cattle, sheep, cows, pigs, and fertilizers. All information for this post was found on the Teagasc website. Their information was gathered in 2010  by a National Farms survey. Over 1,050 farms participated in the Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS), these farms are weighted to represent a national population of approximately 99,500 farms. Overall 2010 was a good year for farming with average farm income up 46%, albeit from a very poor year in 2009. Average family farm income in 2010 is estimated at €17,771, while this represents an increase of 46% on 2009, it is only an increase of 5% on 2008 and a decline of 10% on 2007. 

Employment

Working in the food/ produce industry in Ireland, there are many job opportunities due to the composition of the land, the location of the country, and the people that live there. This chart shows the employment of the food industry in Ireland as of the year 2011:

Source: http://www.teagasc.ie/ 

The figures account for input, processing, and marketing aspects of the agri-food industry. As we can see, agriculture is the highest percentage. This would be due to the vast farming lands available to farmers, who can grow a variety of crops. Manufacturing would be next as there are many farmers who raise animals like cows, pigs, chickens, etc. and sell them for a profit. The animals are then made into food products like the beef we eat, the pork products and other meats. Cows are also used for their dairy products as well. The agri-food portion of Ireland contributes over €24 billion to the nation's economy. 

*Please note: Information in this post was gathered from the Teagasc website at: http://www.teagasc.ie/