It is disappointing that despite being announced in the budget last October, the low-cost loan scheme is still not available to farmers. As Eoin Lowry reports, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has indicated that the scheme will not be open until the second half of 2018.

Questions have to be asked of the minister as to the reasons for the delay given that it is during the first half of the year that most farmers make their financing arrangements.

Indications that the loan scheme will be at a higher interest rate are also a major concern. Increasing the level of funding in the scheme but allowing the interest rate increase is nonsensical. In general, farmers do not have an issue accessing funding – the issue is accessing it at a competitive rate. By allowing the rate increase, the minister would undermine what the scheme was set up to achieve: to allow farmers borrow money at competitive rates.