Tillage incomes are on track to suffer a 20% year-on-year hit as rising input costs do not currently look like they will be offset by higher market prices.

Teagasc’s mid-year outlook for agriculture expects that the average mixed farm that has tillage as its dominant enterprise will not see an income exceeding €45,000 in 2026.

Specialised tillage incomes are to average below €40,000 as the margin positivity of last year is to be swept away by costs.

The outlook states that yield predictions are difficult to make, with the early wet conditions experienced by many winter barley crops leaving the possibility of a yield impact for those who planted the crop and current persistently dry conditions “likely to have some negative effect” on spring crops.

Grain prices look set to largely remain static on those paid out last year against a large global carryover of wheat, a depressed EU demand for feed but with a year-on-year output decline expected for barley across the EU.