Farmer uptake of what should be a key planning tool for their farms has fallen off a cliff, new figures show.

The Teagasc eProfit monitor is a financial tool used by Teagasc business and technology advisers to monitor progress being made on beef farms and ascertain where improvements can be made in profitability in the years ahead.

Farmers can then benchmark themselves against other farmers in similar systems and see where progress can be made.

Teagasc beef business and technology advisers completed 2,159 eProfit monitors in 2017 but this has dropped to just 357 completed in 2020, down from 514 profit monitors in 2019.

It’s also understood that training is being provided to advisers

A key driver of previous profit monitor completion was that it was a requirement of the most recent Knowledge Transfer scheme, which ran from 2017 to 2019.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that Teagasc beef specialists have met with Teagasc advisers to determine what the issues are for the low completion rate in 2020.

COVID-19 has made farmer-adviser contact challenging.

It’s also understood that training is being provided to advisers on how to give better feedback to farmers who complete the eProfit monitors.