Teagasc's national farm survey (NFS) revealed that 54% of farms surveyed were classed as economically viable, up 11% on 2024 figures.

The proportion of vulnerable farms decreased by 3% on last year’s figures to 20%, the survey revealed.

There were just over 13,700 viable dairy farm enterprises in Ireland in 2025, over 7,800 suckler farms and close to 15,800 beef finishing farms considered viable.

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The number of viable sheep farms remained stable at about 5,600 in 2025 and over 4,000 tillage farms were considered viable.

Dairy

Dairy is still the most viable farming enterprise, with 91% of dairy farms falling into this category, up 8% on 2024. Only 4% of dairy farms were identified as being vulnerable, down on 2024’s figure of 9%.

Tillage

Almost two-thirds of tillage farms were considered viable in 2025, up from 58% the previous year. The proportion of tillage farms in the sustainable category remained stable at 25%.

The share of tillage farms categorised as vulnerable declined from 16% to 10% compared with the previous year.

Sucklers

In 2025, 42% of suckler farms were considered to be viable, 14% more than in 2024.

There was a slight reduction of 2% in the number of cattle-rearing farms deemed vulnerable to 25%.

Cattle other

Almost half of cattle other farms, mostly finishers, were viable the report states, with 49% of farms now in this category, an increase of 18% on last year.

The proportion of cattle other farms classified as vulnerable in 2025 was down 1% to 26%.

Sheep

In comparison to other farming systems, the change in sheep farm income was small. The report shows that 40% of sheep farms were deemed viable in 2025, a similar figure to 2024.

The proportion classified as vulnerable declined by 9% to 21%.

Regional level

Approximately two-thirds of farms in the east and midlands were classified as viable in 2025 according to the report.

This figure was marginally lower in the south of the country, at 60%.

The comparative figure in the north and west was 44% in 2025, up 13% compared with 2024.

Almost one-quarter of farms in the north and west region in 2025 were considered vulnerable, compared with just under one-fifth in the south and east and midlands.

Overall

Close to 48,000 of the 88,000 or so farms represented by the NFS were considered viable in 2025.

The data indicates that there were over 16,000 vulnerable drystock farms in 2025.

However, this does not take account of those very small farms (of which there are over 47,000), with a standard output of less than €8,000, falling outside the population threshold for the survey’s annual study.

The methodology also did not account pension income in households, which has become increasingly prevalent on Irish farms in recent years, with 2025 figures showing 76% of the farms in the vulnerable category in receipt of a pension within the household.

Viability

A farm business is defined as being economically viable if the family farm income is sufficient to remunerate family labour at the minimum wage in 2025 (assumed to be an annual figure of €24,300 per labour unit) and provide a 5% return on the capital invested in non-land assets, ie machinery and livestock.

Farm households are considered economically vulnerable if they are operating non-viable farm businesses and neither the farmer nor spouse has an off-farm job.