The Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has discussed several issues affecting farmers with AIB and Bank of Ireland, including interest rates available to them.
The ICMSA’s farm business chair, Pat O’Brien said that the banks have “reassured” the association that they are willing to back their customers through a suite of available products.
Agri-team members and support centres are on “stand-by” and farmers should be proactive in engaging early with them to ensure that working capital is available, O’Brien said.
The association requested that the banks operate a “single point-of-contact” system, so that farmers could explain their position in a time-efficient manner, the ICMSA chair said.
Both AIB and Bank of Ireland have recently urged farmers to engage with their bank’s local branch to explore financial options during recent wet weather conditions.
ICMSA
While weather-related issues were one of the main topics discussed, the credit facilities and associated interest rates available to farmers were also raised during the meetings, O’Brien added:
“We are very conscious that there has to be a pathway for farmers to ‘farm their way out’ of cashflow difficulties, and the banks will have to show consideration and support to those farmers when that’s required.”
The wintering of animals and paying for the increased fodder used and replenishing stocks will be “crucial”, he said and added that the fallout of the “extremely” wet and lengthy winter will be “long term” and will require extra bank support in some cases.
O’Brien acknowledged that “extra working capital has been leveraged this spring through merchant or co-op debt”, and said that once this long housing period has come to an end, farmers should engage with the financial services available to them.
“Banks, for their part, need to providing decisions quickly and apply competitive interest rates that will help farmers farm their way out of their difficulties”, the ICMSA chair said.
The association’s president, Denis Drennan previously described the current banking system as “broken”, and said that banks need to build “personal relationships” with farmers to allow them access cash faster.