I was taken aback when I saw the Teagasc diagram reproduced on page 2 of last week’s Irish Farmers Journal. Broadly, it showed a very significant rise in the value of farm output since 2002, but absolutely static farm incomes in money terms.

In other words, an ever-increasing proportion of the value of what we produced went out again in the form of increased costs. Most of the major inputs have seen steady increases – fuel, fertilizer and, I suspect, the full range of services, and while the Central Statistics Office does an agricultural output and input price series, the sector seems slow to zone in on the components that make up these indices and does not compile international comparisons of the varying trends.

In its regular economic bulletins, the Central Bank has a very clear view of how the international competitiveness of the Irish economy is developing and there is a National Competitiveness Council, but again, with no mandate for agriculture.

Does all this matter? Unquestionably, yes. Highly concentrated input suppliers have real pricing power. In some cases, this pricing power is achieved by having an exclusive agency to import a necessary input. There is now no fertilizer manufacturer on the island of Ireland, but there are quite a few blenders buying essentially from the same few sources.

On the output side, on a recent visit to a well-run, modern Irish meat plant, the amount of new investment in IT systems and compliance was striking. Ultimately, all the people and systems have to be paid for, essentially from the price of the bullock.

We are selling the vast bulk of our beef on international markets. We have to have a product that is as far as possible beyond question, but how do our costs compare with our international competitors? We have seen the US burst on to the world dairy market, an industry fuelled by cheap grain and cheap Mexican labour. The list goes on – GM and min till technology in the case of tillage, hormones in the case beef and pigmeat. We are not capturing these changes and using the trend to influence politicians’ attitudes here at home and in Europe.

Last week, I mentioned the need for a composite competitiveness index for Irish farming and the wider agri-food sector. It is astonishing that the cost of multiple dairy processing sites has not been fully updated and published. Again, the cost falls on farmers. The graph of stagnant incomes despite significant increase in the value of output tells its own story. We need to get behind the figures and analyse why and then, more to the point, identify what can be done.

The old IAWS was formed to supply inputs to the agri industry – the concept may not be outmoded as many might think, but first let’s measure. Teagasc is the obvious organisation to deliver the analysis, but farmers, especially the IFA, could usefully set the agenda.