(Picture L-R) Conor Boyle General Manager, Finance Ireland, Maud Conroy Kane, General Manager Finance Ireland Leasing, Alo Duffy Chairman Lakeland Dairies, Eamon Duignan, Member Relations Manager, Lakeland Dairies.
Lakeland Dairies has partnered with over a dozen leading equipment manufacturers and Finance Ireland to roll out an innovative new scheme that will help farmers invest in critically important on-farm equipment. Finance Ireland will use funds from the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to support the scheme.
The FundEquip scheme allows Lakeland Dairies suppliers make investments in machinery and equipment on their farms providing loans at very competitive interest rates over a three-year or five-year term.
Equipment which is available through FundEquip includes:
- Bulk tanks and cooling equipment;
- Feed bins;
- Generators;
- Milk recording equipment;
- Solar panels;
- Automatic calf feeders;
- Auto ID / heat detection units;
- Plus other essential items.
Loan amounts under FundEquip range from €3,000 to €75,000 with funding options of between three and five years at interest rates of 3.9% for three-year terms and 4.5% for five-year terms. In order to manage cashflow effectively, repayments are deducted from a farmer’s milk cheque only between April and November.
Applicants must have a milk supply agreement and have been supplying Lakeland Dairies for longer than 12-months. No security is required but applicants must be able to show a credit history.
Commenting on the FundEquip scheme, Lakeland Dairies Chairman Alo Duffy said:
“We are delighted to have partnered with Finance Ireland, the SBCI as well as many of the country’s leading farm equipment suppliers to bring the FundEquip scheme to the Lakeland Dairies farm families.
“As dairy farmers continue to grow their enterprises, this can require new equipment to cater for ongoing expansion and to ease the overall workload on the farm. The FundEquip scheme provides financing for important farm equipment such as bulk tanks, generators, milk cooling equipment, solar panels, automatic calf feeders and feed bins among other items at competitive interest rates.
“The flexible and tailored repayment structure over three or five years allows for sustainable investment on farms while being able to manage cashflow over the duration of the loan.
“We are pleased to bring FundEquip to our milk suppliers. This supports our long-term goal of sustainable dairy farming into the future,” said Mr. Duffy.
Billy Kane, Chief Executive of Finance Ireland said:
“We are delighted to work with Lakelands on the one hand and SBCI on the other to continue to bring innovative financial solutions to Irish farmers. We have a strong commitment to the agriculture sector having already pioneered the rollout of Milkflex for Lakeland suppliers. We see this initiative scheme as a further demonstration of our confidence in the future of Irish agriculture.”