A report from Teagasc outlines key performance indicators for the different farming sectors.

We break down the facts and figures it provided for the tillage sector in this article.

The report, which was new this year, will allow results to be compared year on year.

The report shows on target figures for break crops and an impressive percentage of soils in cover crops.

It showed the crop areas and yields for 2024 compared with the five-year average.

In 2024, winter barley area was 65% of the five-year average. Winter wheat and winter oats areas were also down at 78% and 58% respectively on the five-year averages.

When comparing to the five-year average winter barley yields were 91% of the average and winter wheat was 88% of the average. Winter oat yields in 2024 matched the five-year average.

Spring crops all increased in area compared to the five-year average. Spring barley area was 115% of the area, winter wheat was 115% and spring oats was 169% of the five-year average. Spring and winter oats areas often balance out.

Spring beans area saw a massive increase. The spring beans area was 169% of the five-year average, meaning it was up 69% in 2024.

Tillage farm incomes

The report outlined the tillage farm incomes from the National Farm Survey as follows:

2019 - €33,000

2020 - €33,000

2021 - €57,000

2022 - €74,000

2023 - €21,000

2024 - €30,000

Cover crop areas

The report gives an estimate of the percentage of cover crops sown on the area available for those crops. This would equate to the area left for spring cropping. In 2022, 12% of this area was planted which equated to 16,000ha. This increased to 23% in 2023, which equated to an area of 33,000ha and may have been helped by the beginning of ACRES. In 2024, the percentage went back down to 20%, equating to 30,000ha.

Break crops

The report outlined the area of break crops for the last three years as a percentage of the total tillage area. The spring beans area increased by 2,483ha 2024 to 17,453ha in 2024.

Area under break crops:

2022 – 26.7%

2023 – 26.4%

2024 – 33.2%

Environmental indicators

In 2023, Teagasc estimated greenhouse gas emissions on specialist tillage farms as 0.64t CO2eq/ha. The nitrogen (N) balance with no livestock on the farm was placed at 24.4kg N/ha and the phosphorus (P) balance was at 2.44kg P/ha in 2023.