When you’ve been hanging around the Irish Farmers Journal HQ as long as I have, you see the evolution of projects. One that I’ve had the privilege of watching go from strength to strength is the Irish Farmers Journal Agricultural Land Price Report, known to many simply as – the Land Report.

Now in its 19th year, this 72-page report tracking the price of land across the 32 counties of Ireland has become the definitive reference guide, not just for farmers but for business people, auctioneers and solicitors – who have even referenced it in court cases to provide a historic valuation for land. And of course, it’s an essential read for our weekly readers – forget property porn, we all want to know what the big farm sales of the year were. You will find your copy free in this week’s paper.

In my early days in the Journal, I used to sit near Shirley Busteed, then property editor. The Land Report had evolved from an idea to an actual publication and I remember her on the phone to auctioneers for weeks documenting land sale results. On miserable winter afternoons, herself and Andy Doyle would labour over excel sheets to ensure the methodology for coming up with that all-important average price of land figure was accurate.

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The foundation they built back in the early noughties has stood the test of time, but my, how modern-day technology has made the process much more efficient, and arguably, even more accurate.

Now many auctioneers electronically provide their results, and we thank them for their efforts. This information is collated into digital spreadsheets that allows property editor Paul Mooney to analyse the results in a far more efficient manner. Technology may change, but one thing doesn’t – data is collated in the strictest of confidence.

While the Land Report is printed once a year, its information is relevant throughout the 12 months. The famous saying that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish and chips paper doesn’t apply here. The Land Report stays on shelves in farm offices and on auctioneers’ desks as the seasons change.

Technology may change, but one thing doesn’t – data is collated in the strictest of confidence

In this technological era, we have developed our offering so subscribers of the Irish Farmers Journal can access the report’s information at the click of a button.

Our new offering has seen the development of an interactive map of Ireland in which land prices can be perused at a glance; click on each county and scroll down for all the important information you want – the price of land in your county, whether prices have spiked or eased back, the amount of acres put up for sale in the last 12 months, as well as information on some of the juiciest sales of the year.

The Land Report is one of the biggest bodies of research that the Irish Farmers Journal undertakes each year. Although technology has helped improve the efficiency, it still takes a huge amount of time to collate and analyse.

While it is a collaborative team effort, there is one man, Paul Mooney, who has led the charge for the last five years. This Land Report is his last as he signs off as property editor of the Irish Farmers Journal and looks forward to his retirement.

We would like to thank Paul for over 25 years of service in the Journal, and no doubt you’ll agree that his last publication, the Irish Farmers Journal Agricultural Land Price Report 2025 is a serious piece of work and a great read.