It takes a long time to build a modern dairy industry.

Meanwhile, demand for dairy products continues to steadily increase.

Incomes from dairying in geographically competitive areas are the highest of any mainstream agricultural enterprise and yet, in the most competitive and vibrant areas of the world, Ireland and New Zealand, official attitudes to dairy expansion are ambivalent at best and actually antagonistic in some agencies.

The latest National Farm Survey figures from Teagasc were covered in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

In fact, since 1972, these figures have provided a continuous annual commentary on where Irish farming is as a sector and how long-term trends are developing.

The trends are unmistakable. At this stage, dairying accounts for less than 18% of farms and over 50% of total Irish farm income; and this is with a smaller proportion of direct payments than any other sector.

We now have the average dairy farm bigger than the average tillage farm while the income “per unpaid labour unit” as Teagasc describes it, was just short of €80,000 in dairying, compared with €48,000 in tillage and much lower in the beef and sheep sectors.

Pressure

Last week, we published a graph of how cereal yields and total world production were more than keeping pace with demand and population growth.

This has been a long-term trend and shows no sign of stopping.

This is forcing prices down continuously with remorseless pressure on Irish and EU cereal farmer profitability.

The main growth in grain output has come from Russia and South America.

Increased output of beef and grain can be trucked or railed hundreds of miles at harvest time and when cattle are ready to be slaughtered. A dairying infrastructure needs modern processing plants, good roads for daily transport of fresh milk as well as large and expensive on farm milking and housing facilities.

Given the income disparities, demand prospects and co-op structure, it’s hardly surprising that Irish farmers with young families and suitable farms have moved into dairying since the abolition of quotas.

As this trend has continued, I have not met anyone who has regretted making the move.

Rather than regretting the trend, governments and official agencies should be assisting in every way possible including incentives for adaquate storage facilities and the active encouragement of emissions reduction technology.