LAMMA 2016: AgriBank to give support to British farming

Despite a difficult 2015 environment in UK farming, AgriBank, the UK’s only bank established by farmers for farmers continues to actively support farmers all over the UK to provide finance for a wide range of business projects.

In 2015 these included providing:

• £500,000 for a beef farmer to expand his herd

• £250,000 for a dairy farmer to invest in equipment to improve efficiency

• £30,000 for a dairy farmer for working capital

• £50,000 working capital for a bed and breakfast pig farmer

• £150,000 for a biomass boiler for a poultry farmer; and

• £250,000 for a new contracting firm to get off the ground

Last year at LAMMA 2015, AgriBank had the opportunity to meet with many new farmers and several of these have subsequently become clients. These included:

Andrew L. based near Louth, Lincolnshire:“I met Frank Sekula, AgriBank’s founder at LAMMA last January and was impressed with his understanding of the UK farming industry and his “can do” attitude. After an initial discussion we ended up “doing the deal” and have been very happy with AgriBank doing everything they said they would do.”

Daniel C. based near Salisbury, Wiltshire: “Our business is the supply of over 100,000 tonnes of crops to the UK’s largest crop fed Aerobic Digester and we have needed to invest a considerable amount of capital to purchase equipment to improve our harvest and haulage capabilities. This put a tremendous squeeze on our cash flow that compromised the financial stability of the farm. However, and thanks to the financing agreement we have put in place with AgriBank, our business is a great deal more robust financially and we look forward with confidence.”

David N. based in Southery, Norfolk: “We are an Agricultural Machinery Manufacturer which exports over 75% of our output to various countries. When we first met AgriBank, we already had in place a financial arrangement with our bank secured against bricks and mortar, however this arrangement did not give us enough headroom to allow us to build up our stocks during the off season so that we could then increase sales in the busy periods.

As a result, we found it hard to increase our business. AgriBank provided the solution with a simple and flexible financing package meaning we now have the resources to build up stocks and have machinery available at the busy times of year. The arrangement allows us to either repay when we sell a machine or let it run its 24 month agreement period.”

AgriBank is the headline sponsor of LAMMA 2016 and in the Huntingdon Suite which is at the centre of the East of England Show Ground.