The proportion of farmers working in an off-farm job has increased over the past decade, with 44% more farmers employed outside the farm gate last year than had been in 2013.

Teagasc’s 2023 National Farm Survey (NFS) shows that 42% of farmers were employed off-farm last year where only 29% had been 10 years ago.

Some 60% of farms surveyed received at least one off-farm source of income in 2023, either through the farmer or their spouse, with this being only 51% one decade previous.

Only 11% of dairy farmers worked off-farm in 2023, but a high proportion of spouses employed off-farm in the sector saw 59% of dairy farms receive an off-farm income.

Half of sheep, tillage and cattle finishing farmers worked off-farm last year, with the proportion of suckler farmers being slightly lower at 47%.

Only around one-third of cattle finishers and tillage farmers worked an off-farm job in 2013, with the proportion of sheep farmers doing so coming to 28% and the same for suckler farmers at 43%.