Bank of Ireland has launched a new partnership with Lakeland Dairies to offer the Enviroflex loan package to its milk suppliers.
To qualify for Enviroflex, Lakeland Dairies suppliers must be actively engaged in implementing environmentally sustainable initiatives to reduce their farms' environmental footprint, and currently participating in Lakeland Dairies’s “Farming for a Better Future” farm sustainability programme.
Enviroflex provides farmers with discounted flexible finance, as they carry out milking parlour upgrades, install wastewater and slurry storage facilities, and invest in renewable and solar technologies. As the leading lender to Ireland’s agriculture industry with over 82,000 farm customers on its books, it also furthers Bank of Ireland’s ambition of providing a range of sustainable finance products that are carefully designed to help make real, impactful changes.
Niall Matthews, Chairperson of Lakeland Dairies, said: “At Lakeland Dairies, we are constantly looking to bring innovative solutions to our farm families that will support them on their business and farming journey. Access to affordable finance is a challenge for many so we are thrilled to partner with Bank of Ireland on the innovative Enviroflex offering. Envioflex, with its competitive rates, is another key tool available to our farm families to carry out necessary on-farm investment or futureproof their holding for this and subsequent generations. We thank Bank of Ireland for bringing Enviroflex to the market and we look forward to it benefiting our farmers in the Republic of Ireland as well as Northern Ireland in due course.”
Mark Glennon, Bank of Ireland Agri Development Manager, said: “Bank of Ireland is delighted to make the Enviroflex scheme available to Lakeland Dairies milk suppliers. Since launching Enviroflex we have been delighted with the uptake of the sustainability linked loans, and the options it provides farmers looking to improve cashflow and finance on-farm developments over a longer period.”
“Our aim in developing Enviroflex has always been to make it available to as many farmers as possible, and we will continue to work closely with Lakeland Dairies in soon making the product available on a 32-county basis to reward farmers for their sustainability actions.”
Financing Package Details:
- The loan amount can range from a minimum of €10,000 to a maximum of €500,000.
- The interest rate is variable and is currently at a discounted market rate of 4.73% per annum, for those participating in the Lakeland Sustainability Incentive Payment scheme.
- Typically, unsecured loans are available for up to €120,000.
- Standard term of seven years.
Lakeland Sustainability Incentive Payment scheme:
In November 2023, Lakeland Dairies launched Farming for a Better Future, a strategy to support its farm families to continue to take sustainable actions on their farm.
Lakeland Dairies has a clear ambition to achieve a 30% reduction in the carbon footprint of milk production by 2030. This will be done with Farming for a Better Future acting as the roadmap while protecting and improving both water quality and biodiversity, safeguarding the health of our soils whilst maintaining the absolute highest standards of animal welfare.
To support our farmers in achieving these aims, a Sustainability Incentive Payment was launched in 2023, this is a 0.5c/l payment received monthly by the farmer for implementing sustainability actions on farms. In total, participating farmers are carrying out more than 12,000 individual actions on farms.