Livestock and dairy
Livestock and dairy are important industries in Ireland. Many people love Irish butter for the unique taste created from grass fed dairy cows. There are about 6.5 million cattle in Ireland and approximately one-fifth of them are dairy cows. Since 2018 the value of milk production has grown by about 33 percent, reaching a value of about 3.4 billion euros in 2021.Annually the country produces over 1.4 million metric tons of meat. In 2021, about 3.7 million pigs were slaughtered, more than double the number of cattle slaughtered in that year. The average price of pigmeat was expected to range from about 1.4 euros per kilogram up the over two euros per kilogram in 2022. This mirrors the rising monthly costs for pig farms.
Crop production
Overall, the total area under crops in Ireland has increased from June 2019 to June 2021. There were about 280 thousand hectares of area under crops in Ireland as of 2021. Forage plants have the highest production value out of all the crops produced in Ireland. In 2021, forage crops made up over half of the total crop production value, followed by barley and potatoes. That year, the annual potato production amounted to bout 408 thousand tons. Between 2017 and 2021, the total number of tractors sold each year in Ireland increased from 1,796 units to about 2,366 units as increased profits due to higher commodity prices have allowed both livestock and tillage farmers to expand their operations.
