{"id":171950,"date":"2025-12-03T00:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171950\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T00:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:31:09","slug":"which-farm-sector-will-have-the-best-prospects-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171950\/","title":{"rendered":"Which farm sector will have the best prospects in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish farm incomes could be dragged down by slowing economic growth next year, economists warned today (Tuesday, December 2).<\/p>\n

Average farm incomes could fall by 19% year on year in 2026 according to Teagasc economists who outlined today that some farming systems are facing more significant challenges than others.<\/p>\n

This would bring the average farm income in Ireland next year down to just over \u20ac40,000 compared to an estimated \u20ac49,400 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Teagasc today published its\u00a0Outlook 2026: Economic Prospects for Agriculture\u00a0report, which sets out the prospects for Irish farmers for next year.<\/p>\n

The report paints a stark picture of which farm sectors could be under the most pressure next year.<\/p>\n

\"Source:<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Teagasc, December 2025<\/p>\n

Economists detailed that “geopolitical and trade related tensions and concern that some stock market prices may be inflated” has contributed to growing uncertainty as 2025 draws to a close.<\/p>\n

Farm prospects<\/p>\n

Some sectors such as dairy are set to exit the year in a much weaker position than they had previously enjoyed.<\/p>\n

According to Teagasc economists dairy commodity prices “will be considerably lower than 12 months ago, particularly so for butter”.<\/p>\n

They have forecast that Irish milk prices in 2026 could be down by “more than 20% on their average level for 2025” which in turn will reduce milk cheques.<\/p>\n

\"Source:<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Teagasc, December 2025<\/p>\n

When it comes to cattle average Irish finished cattle prices are forecast to be 5% higher compared to 2025 but average weanling prices in 2026 are forecast to be 5% lower compared to this year.<\/p>\n

Tillage farmers meanwhile are likely to see little movement on one crucial issue for them – harvest prices – in 2026, according to Teagasc economists.<\/p>\n

They have forecast that “2026 harvest prices will be similar to those of the 2025 harvest”.<\/p>\n

Economists have also indicated that “approximately 30% of specialist tillage farmers will return a negative market based net margin in 2026”.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Pig farmers could also face different challenges in 2026 with economists forecasting “lower pig prices” which would mean that “profitability is expected to be marginal” next year.<\/p>\n

But the outlook for Irish and EU lamb prices for 2026 is positive, with prices forecast “to remain at the high levels observed in 2025”.<\/p>\n

Teagasc economists also believe that high prices in Irish export markets – UK and EU – will continue to support Irish prices next year.<\/p>\n

They have forecast that next year the average gross margin per hectare earned by Irish mid-season lowland lamb enterprises could increase to \u20ac1,092.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish farm incomes could be dragged down by slowing economic growth next year, economists warned today (Tuesday, December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-171950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}