Agriculture in Ireland

Mar 17, 2015

Spotlight on Irish farming as the world celebrates St. Patrick’s Day

Green beer? Check.
Shamrock sunglasses? Check.
Kiss me I’m Irish t-shirt? Check.

At pubs, houses and other establishments throughout the world, green beer will be served, jigs will be performed, parades will be marched and there will be shamrocks aplenty as March 17^th - St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated.

For the uninformed, St. Patrick is responsible for using a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) to the pagans and bringing Christianity to Ireland – which is sometimes described as St. Patrick driving the snakes away from Ireland.

However, Ireland provides much more than just a reason to wear green and drink coloured beer every March 17^th.

Farming and agriculture play a large role on the Emerald Isle as is shown by the following stats from Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Ireland’s Gross Agricultural Output for 2013 was 7.26 billion Euros, equal to about $7.7 billion U.S.
In 2012, agriculture was responsible for approximately 87,000 jobs
33,318 people were employed specifically by Ireland’s food sector in 2010
About 139,000 family farms were reported in Ireland in 2010 with an average size of 32.7 hectares, or 80 acres
Ireland’s 2011 total agricultural exports were more than 6.1 billion Euros which is equal to approximately $6.48 U.S.
Their top export destination in 2011 was Great Britain with 2.4 billion Euros or $2.55 billion U.S.
The United States imported 142 million Euros or $150 million U.S. worth of agricultural products
Canada imported more than $1 million CAD in agricultural goods from Ireland in 2012.

Join the conversation and show us how you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

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