Agricultural incomes, which have been under considerable pressure since last autumn fell further in July, according to the latest official figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The Agricultural Price Indices show the average price farmers received for their produce fell by 2.4% during the month, continuing a sharp trend that has been place since June of last year.
The figures show the prices farmers are receiving for their produce are now 12.6% below the peak of June last year.
During that period, cheaper feedstock, diesel, fertiliser and seeds reduced overall farm input costs by 4.5%. However, the reduction has been nowhere near enough to compensate for the declining prices that farmers are receiving, and the squeeze on farm incomes is continuing.
The CSO figures also show that prices for cattle during the first seven months of this year were down by an average of 11.3% when compared with the same seven month period last year.
Cereal farmers have also fared poorly, with the prices received for cereals in the first seven months decreasing by 28.3% since last year.
The figures also highlight how the fall in beef prices since last June - which has resulted in farmer protests at retail outlets and restaurants - is equivalent in scale to the impact of the economic crash of 2008 for the 100,000 farmers in the country's beef sector.
The CSO numbers show cattle prices have fallen by 17.3% in the 13 months since June last year - an average reduction of 1.33% every month.
The last time reductions like this were experienced for a sustained period was between June 2008 and November 2009 at the height of the global economic collapse.
During that 17 month period, beef prices fell by 22.7% or an average of 1.3% a month - marginally less than the price falls experienced by beef farmers in Ireland since last June.
