Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots said that he welcomes the rise in farm incomes for 2021 but the continuing rise in input costs is a concern.
The minister was commenting following the publication of the first (provisional) estimate for 2021 farm incomes, which indicate that the ‘Total Income from Farming’ (TIFF) in Northern Ireland rose by 8.3% from £463 million in 2020 to £501 million in 2021.
Minister Poots said: “It is welcomed that the total income from farming figure increased between 2020 and 2021 by 8.3%.
This increase is on the back of improved prices for farm produce during 2021 but it’s disappointing that most of these price gains were offset by substantial increases in input costs.
"Rising input costs have been a concern during 2021 and continue to be as we move into 2022.”
Minister Poots continued: “Farm level estimates also show that not all farm types experienced an increase in incomes in 2021.
"In particular, the incomes of pig farms are substantially down due to lower pigmeat prices and much higher feed costs during 2021.
"Like all farm sectors, the pig sector has faced market fluctuations before but the combination of both lower prices and rising costs has been very testing and I have been working with the sector closely and continue to monitor the situation.”
The dairy sector remains the largest contributor to the total value of gross output in Northern Ireland at £805 million in 2021 – increasing 20% within one year.
The annual average farm-gate milk price increased by 16% to 31.53p/L while the volume of raw milk produced increased by 3% to 2.5 billion litres.
The output value of cattle was 7% higher at £485 million in 2021 and the total number of animals slaughtered increased slightly (1.0%).
The average producer price for finished clean cattle stood at £3.83/kg while the price for cull animals was £2.70/kg – both 11% higher than their respective averages for 2020.
The average carcase weights for clean and cull animals were 0.5% higher and 0.6% lower respectively, which led to a 1.2% higher volume of meat produced in 2021.
In addition to these changes, DAERA also reported increases in the number of store cattle imported to Northern Ireland last year.
