Factsheet on the Irish Agriculture and Food & Drink Sector

Food, drink and horticulture

The agri-food and drink sector accounts for 6.7% of Irelands GVA, 9.7% of Ireland’s exports and 8.2% of total employment. (DAF 2008)
In 2007, Irish agri-food and drink exports increased by an estimated 5 % to reach approximately €8.6 bn (Bord Bia 2007).
The UK was the main destination for Irish agri-food and drink exports in 2007 accounting for 42% of all exports. 31% of exports went to Continental EU markets while the remaining 27% went to international markets.

The latest estimates of the distribution of our agri-food and drink exports in 2007 by sector was as follows: dairy products and ingredients (27%), prepared consumer foods (21%), beef (18%), live animals (2%), beverages (17%), pigmeat and poultry (7%), sheep and sheepmeat (2%), seafood (4%) and edible horticulture (3%).

In 2007, Gross Agricultural Output (GAO) was valued at €5.67 billion. (DAF)
Milk accounts for the largest share of GAO at 29 percent while cattle and beef accounts for 26 per cent. Other sectors to have a share in GAO include pigmeat (5%), sheep (3%), cereals (5%), and forage plants (16%).

There were 6.71 million cattle in Ireland according to the CSO’s June 2007 Livestock Survey, a fall of 3% on year earlier figures.
Irish beef production is predominately a grass based system, with 578,000 tonnes produced in 2007.
In 2007, Ireland exported an estimated 523,000 tonnes of beef worth approximately €1.570 billion.
In 2007, 207,000 cattle were exported live from Ireland worth approximately €110 million.

According to the June 2007 CSO livestock Survey the Irish sheep flock stood at 5.47 million head, with the breeding flock numbering 2.93 million head.
During 2007, Ireland exported an estimated 49,000 tonnes of sheepmeat which was valued at approximately €174 million.
France is the main market for Irish sheepmeat exports, accounting for approximately 56 per cent of total exports in 2007. The UK is also a substantial export market, taking 26% of shipments.

In the June 2007 Livestock Survey there was 1.59 million pigs in Ireland a drop of 3% on the previous year.
In 2007, Ireland exported an estimated 129,000 tonnes (product weight) worth approximately €368 million.
In 2007, the UK was the main market for Irish pigmeat taking approximately 56% of our total exports. Continental EU markets accounted for 27% of our pigmeat exports while the remaining 17% went to international markets.

There were almost 1.10 million dairy cows in Ireland according to the June 2007 Livestock Survey.
In 2007, total milk output (incl. imports) amounted to 5,600 million litres.
From this total milk output, 496 million litres was consumed as liquid milk. In addition to this 141,000 tonnes of butter and 127,000 tonnes of cheese were produced.
In 2007, total dairy exports increased by an estimated 13% to €2.36 bn, with the UK and Continental EU accounting for 35% of and 28% of exports, respectively.

The Irish horticultural sector has a farm gate value in excess of €402m, comprising the food sector worth €330m and the amenity sector worth €72m (2005)
There are approximately 1,400 horticultural food growers involved in a range of farm enterprises including mushrooms, potatoes, field vegetables, protected crops and outdoor fruit and honey. The amenity sector includes such diverse areas as hardy nursery stock, protected/flowers/pot plants/outdoor flowers/foliage/bulbs and Christmas trees.
The outdoor element of the horticultural food industry comprises 18,850 hectares of field grown crops (including potatoes, field vegetables and soft fruit) and 631 hectares of orchards.
Horticulture in Ireland is largely focused on producing for the domestic market with imports representing a significant challenge. However, mushroom value output is €110 for 2005, of which approximately 80% is exported to the UK market. This represents the only significant horticultural export.
All aspects of horticultural production and marketing are directly influenced by seasonal availability/demand and weather patterns.

There are approximately 132,700 family farms in Ireland of which 60% are less than 30 hectares. (2005 DAF estimate)
The total land area of Ireland is 6.9 million hectares of which 4.3 million ha is used for agriculture. (DAF)
Close to 80% (3.4 m ha) of Ireland’s farmland is in pasture, hay and grass silage (grassland), 11% (0.5 m ha) is rough grazing and 9% (0.4 m ha) is in crop production. (DAF)
The average farm size is 31.8 hectares. (DAF)