Latest figures on Irish farms released

DUBLIN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- There were altogether 137,500 farms in Ireland as of 2016, of which 137,100 or 99.7 percent were family farms, according to the latest figures released by the country's national statistics bureau CSO on Wednesday.

These farms produced a total of 7.2 million cows, 5.1 million sheep, 1.6 million pigs and 11.1 million poultry in 2016, said CSO in a survey entitled Structure of Farming in Ireland 2016.

The average standard output per farm was 45,945 euros (53,756 U.S. dollars), said the report, adding that three out of every ten farms had a standard output of less than 8,000 euros while one in five hand a standard output of 50,000 euros or more.

The total size of these farms stood at 4.46 million hectares, which means the average size of these farms was 32.4 hectares, said the report, adding that 4.1 million hectares or nearly 92 percent of these farms were used for grassland with the remaining to be used for cereals, potatoes and other purposes. (1 euro=1.17 U.S. dollars) Enditem