The overall level of gross new investment in Irish farms will rise by 7% in 2025, according to new data.
the Teagasc National Farm Survey 2025 It shows that total investment reached more than €1.6 billion in 2025 across the 88,000 farms covered by the report.
The highest level of investment was seen on dairy farms with average spending reaching €52,174 per farm, up 6% on 2024 levels.
Overall, investment in dairy farms accounted for about half of the total agricultural investment identified in the survey.
Investment in tillage farms rose by 2% year-on-year to reach an average of €22,763 in 2025.
The average investment in beef processing and stocking companies (other livestock) was €11,614, €6,818 in livestock holdings, and €7,669 in sheep farms.
investment
The survey shows that machinery-related investment was the largest investment category across all agricultural systems.
More than half of the total average investment on dairy farms last year (about €30,000) was related to machinery and more than 80% on average tillage farms (about €19,000).
Spending on machinery on dry matter farms ranged from €4,000 to €7,000 on average.
The average investment in buildings was more than €20,000 on dairy farms last year.
Investment in land improvement was higher on dairy farms than on tillage and dry stock farms, reaching around €4,000 and €1,000 on average in 2025.
religion
Despite the increase in investment, average farm-related debt fell by 7% across agricultural systems in 2025 compared to the previous year, Tejasek noted.
Last year, 34% of farms reported having debt related to their business.
Average debt on dairy farms fell by 5% year-on-year, with debt on tillage farms up by 18%.
Average debt on cattle and sheep farms fell by more than 30%, while debt levels on other livestock farms rose by 4%.
Average farm debt by agricultural system 2025. Source: Teagasc National Farm Survey 2025
When excluding farms with no debt, the average debt of dairy farms in 2025 fell year-on-year to €144,717.
The average debt on livestock farms fell to €24,967, while on other livestock farms there was an increase to €45,957.
The average debt on sheep farms fell last year to €25,089, and there was also a slight decline on tillage farms where the average debt reached €86,859 in 2025.
More than three-quarters of farm-related debt was classified as medium to long-term in 2025, 18% of which was related to lease purchases or rentals, and the remaining 5% was short-term.
