Revenue crash at farm level will hit the economy

From €145m in Cork to €620,000 in Leitrim for the first six months of 2026, the scale of the collapse in milk prices in 2026 is being felt in every parish in Ireland. In addition, in the second quarter of 2026, a startling €109 million was lost by farmers on prime steers and heifers in this period in 2026 compared to the previous year based on an average of 97c/kg of a loss over this 13-week period. The total loss in milk revenues in the first six months for Ireland stands at €615m which is a massive reduction along with the dramatic drop in beef revenues. The impact of this downturn is being felt in every farming region across the EU but the absence of any response at national and EU level is hugely revealing.

Response? 

What these figures do not show is the impact of the Iranian war on farm input costs, and in particular fuel and fertiliser. What has been the response of national and EU policymakers? The introduction of ‘token’ schemes that are not delivering meaningful support for farmers, and that border on insulting. Politicians have been saying that they want to support ‘people getting up early to work’ but they seem to have completely forgotten the farmer who gets up early to feed his/her cattle or sheep, milk their cows, or tend to their crops. What about the farmers who are producing food every day of the year? The response of our politicians at both national and EU level is to keep the head down and hope markets will improve, and this approach by our politicians represents appalling treatment of food-producing farmers. We are heading for a loss of €1bn in revenue on Irish dairy farms alone in 2026, further exacerbated by seriously increased fuel and fertiliser prices as well as weather related costs. The losses are absolutely massive, they are EU wide, and food producing farmers are being left in an unsustainable position that simply cannot be allowed to continue. As an example, our own Government wouldn’t even consider a transport subsidy to allow farmers secure sufficient fodder for the winter, simply to take one problem away from the kitchen table. The wait-and-see policy continues and many farm families are left suffer in silence.

Failed policy

The level of anger at farm level is growing, and from discussions at the European Milk Board (EMB) recently, this sense of anger is being felt across the EU. Put simply, the EU and our own Government cannot continue to load more regulations and costs on us and leave us to the vagaries of the marketplace. The policy of the last 20 years has failed. We need immediate policies in place to support farmers and we need a properly funded Common Agricultural Policy to support farmers going forward. People should not be surprised in relation to the generational renewal issue. Farmers, as price takers, have been left to the vagaries, loaded with regulation and the next generation are making decisions on this basis. Change is needed and simply tokenism and sound bites won’t resolve this issue.