Agricultural Contractor value lowering farm machinery overhead costs on Irish farms – FCI analysis of Teagasc National Farm Survey 2025

The importance and the value of agricultural contractor services to Irish farming continues to increase, according to data from the recently published Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) 2025, which reported a ten-year overhead machinery cost decline of almost 23% as the growth in agricultural contractor services has helped to reduce direct machinery ownership costs on many Irish farms.

The NFS 2025 report recorded an average increase in spending on agricultural contractor services (Machinery Hire) of €331 per farm or 4.21%. This latest Teagasc NFS 2025 showed that Irish farmers spent an average of €8,194 on agricultural contractor services during 2025. “This increase in the use of agricultural contractor services results in an annual sector turnover of over €1.1 billion,” said Ann Gleeson Hanrahan, Managing Director of the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).

“These latest figures show that spending by Irish farmers on agricultural contractor services has increased 96% since 2015, from €4,162 to €8,194 per farm, averaged across all farm enterprises,” she added.

During this 10-year period, agricultural contractor services as a percentage of total direct costs on farms increased from 14.27% to 16.82%, an increase of 17.87%. This confirms the growing and vital role of agricultural contractors in supporting the Irish agricultural sector.

Further FCI analysis of the Teagasc NFS 2025 has also shown that while total machinery overhead costs on Irish farms increased by 23% between 2015 and 2025, machinery costs as a percentage of overall overhead costs on Irish farms fell from 40.04% to 30.92%.

“This is an overhead machinery cost decline of almost 23% has come at a time when the cost-effective role of agricultural contractor services has helped to reduce direct machinery ownership costs on many Irish farms,” said Ann Gleeson Hanrahan, Managing Director of the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).

Spending by Irish Farmers on Own Agricultural Machinery 2015 to 2025: Source Teagasc National Farm Survey – Analysis by FCI

Year	2015	2025
Spend on Agri Contractor Services (Hire of Machinery)	4,162	8194
Total Direct Costs	29,176	48,716
Contractor Charges as a % of Total Direct Farm Costs	14.27	16.82
Total Value of Agri Contractor Services across 135,000 Irish farms (Euro)	561,870,000	1,101,190,000
Machinery Depreciation Costs	4,188	5,553
Machinery Operational Costs	5,677	6,623
Total Machinery Overhead Costs on Irish Farms	9,865	12,176
Total Overhead Costs on Irish Farms	24,637	39,384
Machinery as a % of Total Overhead Farm Costs	40.04	30.92