With a new vision on agricultural business financing that was published today, Rabobank wants to play an active role in making agriculture more sustainable. Fewer livestock and more extensive arable farming is a logical consequence, says Food&Agri Director Alex Datema. How will the bank encourage farmers to become more sustainable? How are locations near Natura 2000 areas handled? And what are the further consequences of the policy? We discuss the new vision until 2040 with Datema.
Shrink livestock and more extensive arable farming
According to Rabobank, shrinking agricultural production is inevitable towards 2040 in order to return within the available environmental space. The livestock population will probably shrink, although that is not a goal in itself. Arable farming in the Netherlands will also become more extensive, the bank predicts. Use of pesticides for crop protection will be reduced. Including through the use of new techniques. It is striking that the bank does not comment on fertilizer in its vision. The bank does think it can move towards significantly less soya in animal feed.
Four scenarios
Lower agricultural production is offset by improved earning capacity for farms. According to the bank, this is crucial for economically sustainable business operations. In its vision, the bank takes four future scenarios into account that depend heavily on the choices that the government, chain and consumers will make. These scenarios range from significant shrinkage due to cold remediation to limited shrinkage through new revenue models based on true value-principle. The agricultural sector produces within the environmental space and farmers have a good revenue model. In the supermarket, the more sustainable choice is therefore the most interesting for consumers from a price point of view. The idea is that the agricultural sector can also partly withdraw from the world market due to higher-quality production. In addition, farmers receive payment for providing nature and landscape management services. The latter scenario is Rabobank's preference, although Datema nevertheless indicates that it is taking into account a significant shrinkage scenario of 30% fewer livestock.
€3 billion available
Rabobank is making a total of €3 billion available to kick-start the transition. The bank wants to use this money for interest rate discounts, repayment-free periods and longer terms. If the risks are increased due to sustainability measures, this no longer automatically translates into a higher interest rate, Datema indicates. "We will be more lenient with this from now on." While in the past the bank mainly looked at profitability when a financing application came in, sustainability has now been added as a new pillar that, according to Datema, is just as important.
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/video/10907202/without-sustainability-no-financing-bij-rabobank]Without sustainability, no financing at Rabobank[/url]
"If a pig farmer wants to have an extra stable, this entrepreneur will first have to demonstrate that they are working sustainably." The question then is: when is a pig farmer sustainable?
This Mr Datema is an organic agricultural traitor, who has not made any of it himself and now wants to lecture other farmers! I also believe that a bank that interferes in politics is doomed to disappear.! Because we really don't want a Rabobank like this in the Netherlands! So money for every farmer, just switch to ING, ABN-AMRO, or other German banks, etc., etc.!
