A new study of land use has confirmed the growing disparity in agricultural activity that divides the State along an axis running between Dundalk and Limerick.
Irish Agriculture in Transition is based on data from the 3,113 district electoral divisions. The atlas was launched yesterday in Maynooth by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Mr Noel Davern. It shows that one-third of farms in the State, mostly in the east and south, produce three-quarters of farm output.
The detailed analysis, made possible using advanced computer mapping techniques, also shows that "the divergence in agricultural activity between those two parts of the country has increased", with the north and north-west losing out to the productive larger farms in the south. The authors found that "north of the dividing line there have been major reductions in tillage, dairying and beef cattle farming, which have not been offset by expansion in other conventional lines of production".
Also "the adoption of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, which limits intensification, is most common in the north, west and northern midlands. Reflecting the shift from conventional farming, western counties also have the highest level of private afforestation and of planting by non-farmers."
The report's principal author, Mr Seamus Lafferty, said yesterday that "the next decade will see an acceleration of the trend towards a core of commercial farmers operating competitively in a market increasingly dominated by world commodity prices. These will be mainly the larger-scale milk producers in the core dairying areas, especially in the south-west."
The research, conducted over three years by the department of geography at NUI Maynooth and Teagasc, confirms this trend will continue, consolidated by the EU agricultural transfers set out in Agenda 2000 and other farm support mechanisms.
The co-authors of Irish Agriculture in Transition eamus are Mr Lafferty, Mr Patrick Commins and Prof J.A. Walsh.
The study will aid planning by providing a detailed representation of the geographical variations in Irish agriculture, covering diverse topics such as farm size and farm fragmentation, land tenure and land acquisition, characteristics of the farm labour force, farm mechanisation, farm productivity, land use and livestock systems.
Mr Davern said: "The need for ongoing review of policy and for a rigorous and analytical approach to providing information and advice to policy-makers is emphasised in the (new) White Paper in the context of the establishment of the Rural Development Fund, and the publication of the atlas will make a valuable contribution to that process."
The main theme of the atlas is that Irish agriculture is in transition from an era characterised by high levels of technological inputs and a strong price support system to one with reduced production supports, concerns for environmental management and greater reliance on direct income payments.