Agri-Business
Bank of Ireland told a meeting of the NFFSC that it is "beginning to see the first signals of cash flow tightness" on farms.
The FCI has said that agricultural contractors will be facing fuel bills in the region of €30,000/week once silage season gets underway.
Finance Ireland, Ireland's largest non-bank lender, has become the first non-bank lender to join a loan scheme for SMEs, including farms.
The Future Growth Loan Scheme has received a boost of €200 million in funding from the Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation.
The Future Growth Loan Scheme (FGLS) is effectively full for farmer applicants, with no banks currently offering funding in the agri sector.
The SBCI is limited in terms of its ability to bring loan schemes to market by the inability of the market to absorb more than one scheme at a time.
The Strategic Banking Corperation of Ireland (SBCI) Brexit Loan Scheme is now open to businesses to apply for.
There remains an ongoing market failure within the Irish banking system, the IFA's Farm Business Chairman, Martin Stapleton, recently said.
Ulster Bank has encouraged farmers to apply for "a small amount of money" which has been left over under the low-cost loan scheme.
Bank of Ireland has already issued €39.1 million under the low-cost loan scheme; representing 60% of its allocation under the scheme.
The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) came in for heavy questioning in front of the the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture last week.
It was recently revealed that a total of €60.2m has been drawn down to date by farmers as part of the low-cost loan scheme.
The average loan size drawn down under the low-cost loan scheme has equalled €32,000 to date, according to the SBCI.
AIB has announced that it will no longer be accepting applications to the low-cost loan scheme.
There has been a strong demand for the €150m low-cost loan scheme, according to SBCI Chief Executive Nick Ashmore.
The opening of the low-cost loan scheme or Agri Cashflow Loan Scheme for farmer's applications appears to be drawing closer.
The low-cost loan scheme is on course to open for applications by the end of the month, a spokesperson for the SBCI confirmed to Agriland.
It is expected that this week will see the announcement of which banks have been accepted to deliver the €150m low-cost loan scheme.
Other
Just how do farmers and farm contractors avail of the €50m farm machinery fund announced earlier this month?
Over a quarter of all lending by the SBCI has gone to the agriculture and agrifood sectors.
A €50m fund for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to buy or lease farm machinery has confirmed a sixth on-lender.
