Alternative finance for the agri-industry is set to grow dramatically in Ireland. It will provide new options that will be used alongside bank finance. That was the clear message from the Alternative Finance Options for agri industry runs by The Irish Farmers Journal and Kenndys Law last week. The conference heard of the difficulty some companies had in accessing bank lending. It set out how more businesses are looking to options such as crowd funding and the tax-incentive schemes such as employment incentive and investment scheme. Using private equity was also suitable for some business. However, in most cases many of the businesses were using them alongside existing bank finance to grow their business. Full report in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

Listen to an interview with food business owner Philip Martin, who started his company through crowdfunding, in our podcast below: