With two in every five farmers and one in two dairy farmers as customers, AIB is a leading lender to Irish agriculture.

Dr Anne Finnegan, agri strategist with AIB (pictured), says that the bank has no capital limitation in lending to the sector and the bank will fund sound proposals. She says the sector is underleveraged compared with our competitors and that this may not be a bad thing. Looking beyond 2015, she sees great opportunity for the sector, and currently there is significant demand.

She explains that agriculture is strategically important for AIB, stating that last week the bank announced a €500m fund to support the growth and development at farm level.

“Since the 1970s, AIB has always maintained a specialist agri adviser team, qualified in agricultural science, to support the bank’s understanding of farm businesses,” Finnegan says.

AIB recently doubled its agri adviser team to 12.

Commenting on the opportunity for expansion, she says that this must be from a place of efficiency and success, adding that expansion is not for everyone, but those who do take on the risk see a return and are adequately rewarded with an increase in profit.

She outlines the three key risks to the sector: volatility of both input and output price; interest rates, which should be stress-tested by farmers; and weather shocks.