The tillage crop area has declined by 2.1% in 2026, based on preliminary figures from the Department of Agriculture collected from applications for the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS).

This puts the target to have 400,000ha of tillage crops by 2030 even further away.

Tillage crop area is now estimated at 339,606ha, down 7,368ha from 2025 (see Table 1). Some of the biggest declines in area came from winter and spring oats, spring barley and winter wheat.

The decline in oats area was not a surprise, as demand for the grain has plummeted. Both oats and wheat struggled to find demand in the market over the past year, despite Ireland importing approximately 6m tonnes of grain and oilseeds for feed production each year.

Oats area declined by almost 10,000ha to 24,240ha and winter wheat area declined by close to 5,000ha to 54,946ha (see Table 2).

The decline in demand for spring barley for the drinks industry likely contributed to the decline in area by 6,393ha to 109,501ha.

Some of the decline in cereal area moved to break crops. Oilseed rape climbed by almost 7,000ha, while spring beans area increased by 2,267ha.

The decline in beet area of almost 850ha was not a surprise, considering there was quite a bit of beet in the ground in late spring.

Worryingly, potato area has dropped by about 660ha. That’s a massive area for the crop to fall by and will put a huge dent in our native potato supply.

Winter barley and maize area both increased by about 2,400ha each. This brings maize up to some record area figures.

The decline in tillage area is not a surprise to many. Anecdotally, farmers reported losses of leased land in large chunks.

The poor grain prices compared to the costs of production and the lack of positivity in markets did not entice people into planting crops, as is clear from the decline in cereal area.

Oilseed prices have been more positive and the increase in area this year is good for those who took the chance.

Tillage farmers received just over €29m in funding in spring, which was for the previous season.

This figure was way behind the approximate €67m per year needed for the sector, according to the Food Vision tillage report. The Government parties also outlined that they would provide this funding in their election manifestos.