In our special Focus supplement, Jack Kennedy compares bank interest rates charged to farmers around the world. He finds that Irish farmers looking to borrow long term for an on-farm investment are incurring the highest interest rates in Europe and some of the highest anywhere in the world.

At the current rates, an Irish farmer borrowing €100,000 over a 10 year period will pay an additional €17,000 to the bank when compared with his Dutch counterpart.

In many cases, this will be the difference between a project being viable and non-viable.

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Meanwhile, the strong uptake in the low-cost loan scheme is a positive development, albeit that the scheme merely bring interest rates into line with what farmers across the EU are being charged.