One would be forgiven for thinking that the dairy sector is the only agri sector growing and prospering in Ireland. However, we see that broiler and duck production is growing, and growing quite significantly. Most recent statistics for the Republic to the end of September 2018 show Irish poultry production has continued to rise, increasing by 1.8m birds compared to the year previously. The same holds through for chicken meat and egg production in Northern Ireland.

The growth in new entrants and the growth in existing businesses in the poultry sector is clearly seen. In the border regions of Cavan and Monaghan there are almost 75 new planning applications in the poultry space alone with most of them (about 60%) in the poultry meat sector, but a large proportion in egg production also.

Ifac’s Ciaran McCabe outlines a business case study for how the poultry business might work alongside a part-time suckler farming operation. There is a large capital investment required. While banking interest rates remain stable and low, the business can stack up.

The business structure may change from a sole trader to a company structure to allow bank repayments as the business grows and develops. What is also important to note is that this is dependent on very good technical management and if disease or some other issue affects performance it can have a very significant effect on revenues and subsequent profits.

On the pig side, while pig prices have lifted by 4c/kg to average €1.39/kg for February, the IFA contends that this in no way covers all costs of production and still leaves most pig farms in a loss-making situation.

Poultry farmers – similar to pig farmers – need to be aware that the risks of high input costs is huge relative to some of our other agri enterprises.