Agriculture Sector
Executive Summary Overview of the Agriculture Sector
Regional and Local Overview
- There are 13,445 farms in Galway, 14,730 average work and labour units, €13,852 is the average labour output and 615,877 total hectares
- Galway has the highest number of farms in the West of Ireland with an average farm size of 25.8 hectares.
- There is a trend in the number of large farms increasing while the number of small farms is decreasing.
- 65% of farms in Galway are for beef production.
- There has been a 55% decrease in specialist dairy farms since 2000 and 33% decrease in mixed grazing livestock farms.
- The average output of farms in Galway (€13,852) is 54% less than the State's average output (€30,726) in 2010.
- Over 65 year olds are the largest cohort of farm holders and 34 % of farm enterprises do not generate sufficient income.
- Economically viable farms increased from 27% in 2010 to 35% in 2011.
- Some 380 farms produce cereals with 280 farms producing spring barley.
- Fertilizer spreading costs is greater in Galway than other counties.
- There were 11,247 cattle farms in 2010, with 420,205 cattle and 24, 928 being dairy cows.
- Galway has 6.3% of total cattle stock in Ireland, 2.3% of Ireland's dairy cow stock and has the most cattle in the State after Cork.
- After Donegal, Galway has the most sheep in the State at 576,463 sheep
- Galway has the most goats in the State.
- There are 3,916 sheep farms, 60 pig farms, 810 poultry farms (the largest number after Cork in the State).
- There are 151 milk producers in County Galway and the sixth largest number of dairy cows in the sector.
- There are 10 farmers' markets ranking Galway number four in the State after Dublin, Cork and Kerry.
- Agricultural education has been provided in Mountbellew Agricultural College since 1904.
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Read the full Sector Overview
Download the Report (pdf) for this sector