The mean return on assets ascertained by the HSP farmers was also significantly greater, at 5.75pc per year compared to 3.49pc achieved by the median of NFS farms. "While farmers in the programme are not more profitable on a per ha basis, they are more profitable per kg of milk solids," says Hanrahan. "Heavy soils farmers may have to work more land to get the same output as farmers on drier ground, but the data shows that the return on assets is very high." OpportunitiesIn the case of the HSP farms, land tends to be more available to either rent or purchase which is reflective of the land market value of these areas and also the larger overall size of the HSP farms compared to all other farm categories. In contrast, the highest performing farms nationally, in terms of profitability per ha, tend to have smaller farm sizes due to reduced land availability.

Source: Irish Independent May 19, 2019 05:03 UTC