The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has published the latest edition of its annual booklet, ‘Northern Ireland Farm Performance Indicators 2023/24’.
Now in its 22nd year, the publication provides farmers with reliable data to help assess the performance of their farm businesses.
The figures are drawn from the 2023/24 Northern Ireland Farm Business Survey, which collects detailed account information from a representative sample of farms across the region.
The booklet presents enterprise data in a gross margin format, including output value, variable costs and gross margin for each of the main farm enterprises.
For the most common enterprises, results are broken down into four categories of performance – ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Moderate’ and ‘Poor’. These reflect the range of performance levels typically achieved.
The 2023/24 results show that eleven of the fifteen main enterprises recorded decreases in gross margins compared with the previous year.
The wide variation in performance is highlighted by the dairy sector, where the gap in gross margin between farms classed as ‘Excellent’ and those in the ‘Poor’ category equates to £694 per cow.
Copies of Northern Ireland Farm Performance Indicators 2023/24 are available free of charge by emailing AEB.EconStats@daera-ni.gov.uk. The booklet can also be accessed online at www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/ni-farm-performance-indicators