The cost of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and feed have fallen sharply in the 12 months to February, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
In its latest publication of Agricultural Price Indices, the CSO finds the cost of fertiliser fell by 45% in the period, the cost of animal feed was 15% lower and the cost of energy was down 4%.
However output prices that farmers received for produce also fell in the year, down 7.6%
That is an overall figure, but within different sectors, fortunes of farmers were very different.
The prices paid for cereals fell nearly 32% and the price paid for milk fell nearly 17%.
On the other hand, what growers got for potatoes was a massive 75% increase, while prices paid for vegetable rose 13% and what farmers got for sheep rose over 18%
The figures also look at monthly trends and find that from January to February this year input costs on farmers rose very slightly, while output costs were up 2.3% with the latter figure reflecting a 6% increase in milk prices paid to dairy farmers.
