Dairy farmers made up just over a quarter of all applications to date for the €300m Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS), funded by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Business. Some 318 applications have been lodged and 288 approvals have been issued. Farmers accounted for 200 of the funding requests.
Dairy farmers made up just over a quarter of all applications to date for the €300m Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS), funded by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Business.
Some 318 applications have been lodged and 288 approvals have been issued. Farmers accounted for 200 of the funding requests.
Dairy farmers lodged 51 applications, followed by those in mixed farming (42) and farmers in crop and animal production, who made 40 applications.
There was a sharp drop off in applications for other farm sectors. Suckler farmers submitted 17 applications, followed by sheep farmers (seven) and stud farms (two).
Pig and poultry farmers made two and one applications, respectively.
Figures from the Department of Agriculture show that 183 farmers have been deemed eligible for a loan and the remaining 17 applications are in progress.
The scheme aims to provide lending at rates of 4.5% on loans of less than €249,999 and 3.5% for loans of more than €250,000. Loan amounts of €50,000 to €3m are available on eight to 10-year terms.
Applications must be pre-approved on the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) website before approaching a lender.
Despite some concern that the pre-approval stage would delay loan approval, the Department stated that “the expected decision time on receipt of a properly completed eligibility application is 48 hours.”
Approved lenders
AIB, Ulster Bank, Bank of Ireland and KBC are named as approved lenders.
The Department said: “This is a long-awaited source of finance for young and new entrant farmers, especially the cohort who do not have high levels of security.
“It will also serve smaller-scale farmers, who often do not have the leverage to negotiate for more favourable terms with their banking institution.”
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