Since 1985, Ireland has better tech more rules and regulations on farming and inflation too – but with production prices on the rise, are farmers any better off in the modern era?

President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICSMA) Denis Drennan told The Pat Kenny Show that costs have not just increased for consumers over the years.

“People are saying about how much more expensive their shopping trolley has become, even though prices are relatively better than where they were 40-years ago” he said.

“But we don’t really live on the price that we get for our product, we live on the margin.

“So, it’s like any business, you have income coming in and your expenses going out, and those expenses have exploded exponentially at farm level, the same as they have at everybody’s house level.”

Robot on a dairy farm. Image: Scharfsinn / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Drennan also said that while technological innovations have made it easier for farmers to scale their production up, upgrading a farm and keeping up with maintenance can be incredibly costly.

“It has made us far more efficient as farmers and we can do far more as an individual farmer with less labour, but at that, a lot of this technology is very expensive,” he said.

“If you look at putting in a robot to milk your cows or something like that – which a lot of people will have seen on television and at different shows around the country - you're looking at maybe half a quarter of a million for two robots to milk maybe 100 cows.

“That’s a huge investment at a farm level – and it’s constant investment with maintenance contracts and upkeep of those machines.”

With all this taken into consideration, Mr Drennan said that the situation farmers find themselves in today is not much better than they would have 40-years ago.

Main image: Young farmer with laptop standing in field with tractor harrowing in background. Image: Budimir Jevtic / Alamy. 22/3/2017