Rabobank interest discount to green dairy farmer

Rabobank officially provided the first 'Planet Impact Loan' on Thursday 23 May. The discount for the refinancing of an existing loan goes to dairy farm Riedstra and Hoving VOF from Veenhuizen. This is because they score well in the field of biodiversity.

De discount of up to 0,5% for a loan of up to €1 million is, according to the lender, mainly intended for dairy farmers who show improvement in land-relatedness, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a decrease in ammonia emissions, a decrease in nitrogen soil surplus and/or make a contribution to nature and landscape.

To determine this, the bank has developed a so-called 'Biodiversity Monitor'. The better a dairy farm does in this monitor, the more discount the dairy farmer gets. "If the pilot shows that this is a good way to stimulate biodiversity, we want to expand this to comparable partnerships in other regions," said Carin van Huët, director of Food & Agri at Rabobank, in the statement. 

Flowery field margins
Dairy farm Riedstra en Hoving VOF is owned by the brothers Jappie and Dirk Riedstra and is adjacent to a nature reserve. "At our company we try to take biodiversity into account as much as possible. We do this by sowing flower-rich field margins and through meadow bird and botanical management on part of our grassland," explains Jappie Riedstra.

He continues: "We also work together with Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten. We graze with nature cows (of the Herefords breed) and Exmoor ponies. We have integrated our barn into the landscape and in our yard we try to take this into account as much as possible. "

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.