Deals have been struck for 47,000ac in the Macra na Feirme-led Land Mobility Service over the past five years.

Last year, another 114 arrangements between landowners and land-seekers were put in place, bringing the five-year total to 521.

The land in question is mainly in counties Cork, Kilkenny, Mayo and Tipperary, while the average farm size that the service has dealt with is 90 acres.

The service’s users are mainly landowners looking to step back from farming (45%), while the rest are expanding farmers (29%) or new and potential operators (26%).

There are currently over 200 people on its books who are either looking for opportunities to take up land or offer it for use to someone else.

Long-term leases are by far the most popular option for Land Mobility Service clients, accounting for 43% of its work, the soon to be published annual report shows.

However, there is a growing number of other arrangements as farmers become more familiar with options such as share-farming and contract-rearing, and more landowners want to stay involved in some way on the farm.

Dairying has been the predominant farm enterprise (61%) in the deals done. The abolition of milk quotas and the higher income possible have attracted plenty of interest from those who do not own their own land.

However, there have been land deals agreed across all farming sectors.

Most of the land mobility arrangements are made between people who are not related to each other.

In some cases they may be neighbours but in others they could be complete strangers at the beginning of the process.

The Land Mobility Service is run by Austin Finn and Conor Carty with support from FBD and co-ops.