BY CRONAN SCANLON
AGRICULTURAL land is extremely scarce in Donegal compared to other parts of Ireland according to a survey published in yesterday's Irish Farmers Journal.
In Donegal, just ten farms, incorporating 1,713 acres, were recorded for sale last year.
"Similar to Louth, Dublin and Monaghan, one of the glaring features of the agricultural land market in Donegal is that supply is scarce," according to the author of the survey, Ms Shirley Busteed.
According to Ms Busteed, farmers are extremely reluctant to sell, especially in areas where the land is of good quality such as the Finn Valley and Inishowen areas.
"From my knowledge of Donegal, there is a good vein of land stretching from Raphoe, the Finn Valley through Letterkenny and up to Inishowen," she explained.
"When farmers get land in these areas then tend to hold on to it. There are a lot of good farmers in Donegal and they will go the extra mile to get their hands on anything that comes on the market. Also, good quality land tends not to come on to the market."
According to the Journal's survey, no farms were sold by public auction here last year. The biggest farm recorded for sale in 2007 was an 880-acre hill farm that went to the market near Carndonagh.
The information contained in the report is taken from all 26 counties incorporating a total of 1,402 farms. It gives an average price, top sales and the amount of land offered for sale in each county. However, with so few farms for sale in Donegal, it was difficult to give an accurate average price for farming land here.
Letterkenny based auctioneer, Mr George Robinson of John Robinson & Sons, said that farmers in Donegal had always been very reluctant to let land out of the family.
Meanwhile the former Chairman of the IFA in Donegal, Mr Keith Roulston, said the survey dispels rumours that farmers are selling up and getting out of the business."
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"Farmers here had never a great need to sell their land. Maybe in the 1970s, a lot farms would have been sold if farmers got in to financial difficulties. However, all that is changed now. If a farmer needs money all they need to do is sell a half acre site to someone who wants to build a house," Mr Roulston explained.
"At the end of the day, farmers are farmers. They are not businessmen or publicans. They farm land. If a farmer is retiring he will transfer the land on to another member of the family or it will be left in a will to someone," he concluded.
The survey found that the average price of rough grazing land was between ¤7,000 and ¤8,000 per acre. Prime quality land was making between ¤20,000-25,000 an acre.
The lowest average price for land in the country is in Leitrim at ¤8,714 per acre. Unsurprisingly, the highest average price for land in the country is Dublin at ¤36,282/acre.
At 8,006 acres, or 179 farms, Galway tops the list in terms of land offered for sale during 2007.
For more see the Donegal News online pdf editions
