What is eligible for an Agricultural Investment Loan?
- Available to qualifying Agri SMEs and Farmers.
- The loan is available to support farm investment in agricultural machinery and facilities and investment in production and marketing.
- The Loan amount is a minimum of €25,000, with a maximum loan amount of €5,000,000.
- The minimum loan term of the facility is 2 years and maximum repayment loan term is 10 years.
- Borrower must submit a written loan application before work on the project or activity commences along with a list of costs. Loan amount must not exceed 1.5 times the amount of eligible costs (as defined in Commission Regulation (EU) No 702/2014 of 25 June 2014).
- For further detail on eligible and ineligible costs please refer to https://sbci.gov.ie.
- The aid intensity or total aid resulting from a loan shall not exceed 40% of the amount of the eligible costs.
- Investments shall be in conformity with EU legislation and with Irish law on environmental protection under the Protection of the Environment Act 2003.
- Loans may be advanced to support investments in tangible assets or intangible assets on agricultural holdings linked to primary agricultural production or processing of agricultural products and the marketing of agricultural products.
- Where the loan is to support investments in tangible assets or intangible assets on agricultural holdings linked to primary agricultural production, the investment should pursue at least one of the following objectives:
- The improvement of the overall performance and sustainability of the agricultural holding;
- The improvement of the natural environment, hygiene conditions or animal welfare standards, provided the investment goes beyond EU standards;
- The creation and improvement of infrastructure related to the development, adaptation and modernisation of agriculture;
- The achievement of agri-environmental-climate objectives; and
- The restoration of production potential damaged by natural disasters, adverse climatic events, animal diseases, plant pests and the prevention of damages caused by those events.
Further details on the State Aid requirements pertaining to these loans are provided at https://sbci.gov.ie.
State Aid
Details on the State Aid requirements pertaining to these loans are provided at https://sbci.gov.ie.
Summary of Excluded Activities from Agricultural Investment Loans
- Finance of specific export operations, or finance contingent upon the use of domestic over imported products. In particular, it should not apply to financing the establishment and operation of a distribution network in other States, or current expenditure linked to the export activity.
- Loans to support investments required to comply with EU standards in force.
- Loans to an undertaking which is subject to an outstanding recovery order following a previous Commission Decision declaring an aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market;
- Loans to undertakings in difficulty;
- Loans to support the purchase of production rights, payment entitlements and annual plants;
- Loans to support the planting of annual plants;
- Loans to support drainage works; and
- Loans to support the purchase of animals;
- Loans to acquire land.
Please refer to https://sbci.gov.ie for comprehensive detail on specific exclusions.
