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The future for some beef farmers where efficiency levels are not high and science is not being applied will be “incredibly difficult”, economist Jim Power has said.
He said the days of the part-time, low-income farmer are numbered.
He told the Irish Farmers Journal at the launch of the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) report on advisory services on Tuesday that the beef sector is challenging.
“You have one-third of farmers at the top of the cohort who are very efficient, very productive, are probably making a reasonable return on their beef farming even in the current very difficult circumstances.
“You have a cohort in the middle who are sort of just about surviving and then you have the cohort at the bottom, many of whom are part-time. Efficiency levels are not that high, productivity is poor, a lot of science is not being applied to how they do their work and I think the future for those farmers is incredibly challenging.
“The question is will they survive,” he said, adding that he thinks more and more support is required for all farmers.
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