Of the €3 billion from Rabobank's sustainability fund for agriculture, 80% of the applications are for land purchases. The bank says it is 'quite busy' providing financing for agricultural land, despite the ongoing uncertainty in the sector. 'Land remains as popular as ever.'
This was stated by Alex Datema, director of Food & Agri Netherlands at Rabobank, this afternoon during a meeting for agricultural journalists at the bank's head office in Utrecht. Datema was flanked by the bank's sector managers.
'Satisfied with transition fund'
Sustainability is not a bottleneck for the agricultural sector, Datema notes. "There are few farmers in the Netherlands who are not working on this, although some are faster than others." In 2023, Rabobank made €3 billion available to accelerate sustainability in the agricultural sector. The bulk of this money is lent on more favorable financing terms for land purchases. According to Datema, this concerns 80% of the applications, the rest is for other innovative applications on the farm or for agroforestry.
According to Datema, the fact that most of the money is being pumped into the land market is not a problem. "We are satisfied with the progress of the fund." Datema cannot say whether the fund contributes to the ever-increasing land prices. "It may have an impact, but we do not assess the applications that we finance from the fund differently than with regular financing." However, farmers do receive interest and repayment benefits if they qualify for the fund.
Soil offers advantages
Sector manager Marijn Dekkers understands that many dairy farmers invest in land these days. "Land retains its value and also offers advantages in the business operations for feed production and manure disposal." He is referring to the extensification that is taking place in dairy farming. It is not yet known where the GVE standard will be. According to Dekkers, we can assume that dairy farmers will have to extensify and that can be achieved by purchasing land. Dekkers notes that the desire for extensification did not come from the bank, but stems from the agricultural agreement and is also included in the coalition agreement of the current cabinet. "We only signal where the politicians want to go and align our policy accordingly," says Dekkers.