I had not realised that borrowing by Irish farmers had declined by so much. From a peak of €6.4bn in September 2008, it had fallen by the end of 2017 to €3.5bn.

The annual review and outlook just published by the Department of Agriculture provides a fascinating and comprehensive summary of Irish farming and agribusiness, covering output and input prices, production trends and trade flows.

But to get back to the rapid paydown of debt by Irish farmers – the Department goes into some detail on findings by the Central Bank and other institutions on how distorted the Irish credit market is.

In the period under review, farming had by far the lowest default rate of any sector – and yet the average interest rate paid by farmers was 4.33% versus an SME (small and medium business enterprise) rate of 3.49%. Coupled with that of course, farmers receive nothing or next to nothing on their deposits, which many of them, from a traditional attitude of prudence, would have kept as a rainy day fund, to provide a cushion against unexpected problems but also as a modest source of interest income.

To add insult to injury, the Department quotes the interest rate charged to farmers on loans at 1.8% higher than the eurozone average.

Given these circumstances, it’s no great surprise that the farming sector has chosen as a group to prioritise the paying down of debt and to carry out development as much as possible from cashflow.

The Government has attempted to introduce some low-interest money into the sector by a variety of means, including from the European Investment Bank, but the sums within the overall sums are small while nonetheless welcome.

Of course, some farmers and discussion groups will get better deals than average but I have heard of too many loans being charged at 7% plus, even with good security. I think we can be sure that the Central Bank and Department figures are a fair reflection of what’s happening.

The Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) was formed to provide a stable flow of reasonably priced farm credit. It is a pity it lost its way and disappeared.

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Low-cost loans 2017: how much did your sector borrow?