Provisional estimates of farm incomes in Northern Ireland have been released by DARD and show the Total Income from Farming (TIFF) increased 33.7% (31% in real terms) from £223m in 2012 to £298m in 2013.

In 2013, total gross output from agriculture was up 10% to £1.9bn, due mainly to a 21% increase in the value of dairy output, which increased to £628m. Dairy production accounted for 33% of total agricultural output.

Agricultural inputs increased by 9% in 2013 to £1.5bn. The cost of feedstuff accounted for 54% of inputs, and increased by 11% in 2013 to £800m. The cost of fertilizer and lime was up 22% to £101m, while machinery expenses increased 1.1% to £153m.

Despite the increase in income, the local farming industry remains heavily reliant on Single Farm Payment. In 2013, it was worth £259m, which equates to 87% of total income.

However, recent history would suggest that the figures should be treated with some caution. At the end of January 2013, DARD estimated the total income from farming in 2012 to be £143m.

At the time, the figure received considerable attention as it represented a 50% drop in farm incomes when compared with 2011.

Since then, the 2012 figure has been revised upwards, and is now confirmed at £223m.

On enquiry by the Irish Farmers Journal, a DARD spokesperson confirmed that revisions to the provisional estimate of TIFF are not unusual but, in the case of the 2012 figure, a number of minor revisions had moved the overall TIFF figure in one direction.

“There is a trade-off between producing timely statistics and waiting until the final estimates for all the figures used in a complex calculation, such as TIFF, are available. Taking the latter approach would leave the farm income estimate almost a year out of date,” confirmed the spokesperson.