The farmers with the highest direct payment in the country, Michael and Gabriel Hoey, received €230,547 in 2021, an increase of 23% on their direct payment of €186,809 in 2020, according to figures released by the Department of Agriculture on Tuesday.

The Hoey brothers, who own the Country Crest farm at Rathmooney, Lusk, Co Dublin, saw their direct payment increase by some €43,438 in 2021.

The increase saw the Hoey brothers go from the farmers with the ninth-highest direct payment in the country to the highest direct payment out of all farmers in the space of a year.

Country Crest involves horticulture, tillage and livestock farming and employs over 400 people in north Dublin.

Payments grow

Farmers with high direct payments in other parts of the country also saw these grow in 2021, the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal.

Potato producers Castlecor Potatoes Unlimited in Co Cork saw their direct payment increase by €22,826 to €203,076 in 2021, up some 13% on their 2020 payment. The farm holds one of the highest direct payments in Co Cork.

Tipperary farm Lunarford Farm Ltd, which farms “sheep, goats, horses, asses, mules and hinnies”, saw its direct payment increase by €53,128 to €160,791 in 2021, an increase of 49% on the previous year.

The increase sees it move to top place in Tipperary, surpassing 2020’s top direct payment holders John and Theresa Hanly, who received €141,567 at the time.

Some decreases

While not all those with the highest direct payments in each county saw them grow in 2021, those who saw decreases, did so to a much lesser extent.

The majority of the farmers with the highest direct payments in counties in the northwest saw them increase in 2021, with the highest payment receivers in Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan all seeing their payments grow by €9,119, €3,335, €4,684 and €4,464 respectively.

For further analysis on the direct payments made to farmers in 2021, see this week's paper and the Irish Farmers Journal online.