Farmer lending is expected to bounce back this back end, according to AIB agri advisor Nicola Featherstone.

This is despite the number of farmers borrowing money with AIB being back 19% for quarter one of 2025 and back 5% for quarter two of the year.

Speaking at Dairy Day last Saturday, Featherstone advised farmers who have to put infrastructure in place to borrow the money over a termed loan and not to eat into their cashflow.

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“The average borrowing for a dairy farmer is around €50,000.

“You could look at that and say I’d be able to cover that within a three-year term – if you worked out what the repayments were on that say over a seven-year term, you’d be working out with repayments of €700/month versus a three-year term it’d be working out at€1,500/month.

“That straight away is €10,000 in savings in cashflow,” she said.

Farmers should “term out” loans for as long as the bank is willing to give you, she advised.