Innovation in the Irish Agrifood Sector: Farm Level Focus

Agri-Business and Rural Development

School of Agriculture and Food Science.

Doris Läpple1, Alan Renwick1 and Fiona Thorne2

1 Agri-Business and Rural Development, School of Agriculture and Food Science,

University College Dublin, Ireland.

2 Rural Economy and Development Programme, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15,

Ireland.

Innovation

in the Irish Agri-food sector:

Farm level focus

Farm Level Innovation

• Motivation for research

– Important for growth of the agri-food sector

– Sustainable intensification

– Identified challenges from stakeholder and indicator analyses

• Content of research

– Design of innovation index

– Assess current situation

– Identify drivers and barriers

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Farm Level Innovation Index

• Design of innovation index based on Teagasc

National Farm Survey data

– Adopted innovations and innovation behaviour

• New technologies/ farm practices

• Investment in new knowledge

• Renewal of machinery

– Farm system specific weights assigned by experts

– Final score between 0 and 1

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Innovative Performance by Farm System

4

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Dairy CattleRearing

Cattle Other Sheep Tillage MixedLivestock

Innovation Average FFI

Regional Innovative Performance

5


6

Over 90% cattle and sheep

farms


7


farms

> 50% cattle and sheep

farms


8


farms

> 50% cattle and sheep

farms

20% tillage farms


• A closer look...

– Southeast region

• Cattle farms are more innovative than cattle farms in the remaining regions (0.46 vs 0.32)

• Dairy farms show above average innovative performance (0.72 vs 0.62)

– East region

• Dairy farms achieve the highest innovative performance (0.76 vs 0.62)

– Border region

• Sheep farms are above average (0.45 vs 0.37)

– South region

• Dairy farms are below average (0.51 vs 0.62)

• Cattle farms are the least innovative (0.19 vs 0.32)

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Characteristics of Innovative Performance

Low innovative

performance

(bottom 25%)

‘Laggards’

Average

innovative

performance

‘Majority’

High innovative

performance

(top 25% )

‘Innovators’

Family farm income € 11,553 € 23,202 € 45,649

Market income € -2,234 € 2,517 € 16,997

Share of SFP to FFI 70% 71% 46%

Net new investments € 1,506 € 6,610 € 16,620

Borrowings € 5,197 € 17,692 € 56,274

Solvency rate 0.7% 2.2% 5.5%

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Characteristics of Innovative Performance

• Laggards have below average farm incomes

• Innovators have above average incomes

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Drivers and Barriers of Innovative

Performance

Positive Negative No impact

Dairy (relative to other systems)

Cattle, Sheep (relative to Dairy)

Tillage, Mixed livestock (relative to Dairy)

Farm size Age Solvency rate

LU/ha Off-farm job Size of household

Access to loans

Agricultural education

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Summary

• Starting point to raise discussion on innovation

– Data constraints

– Refine measure (complexity of innovation)

– One year snapshot

• Overview of current innovative performance of

the farm sector

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Summary

• Differences between farm systems in innovative

performance (Dairy vs Cattle)

• Regional variation in innovative performance

(Southeast vs West)

• Farms with high innovative performance differ

from less innovative farms (farm incomes,

investments, subsidies)

• Access to loans, agricultural education, farm size

and intensity have a positive effect on innovation,

while age and off-farm job act as constraints

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Recommendations

• Facilitate farm level innovation

– Structural change

• Farm partnerships, taxation , CAP support

– Access to funding sources

• Alternative funding arrangements

– Education / advisory services

• Centres of excellence

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Acknowledgements

• The Bank of Ireland for funding the research

• Teagasc National Farm Survey Department for

providing data

• Karen Keaveney for map production

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Innovation in the Irish Agrifood Sector: Farm Level Focus

Environment

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