Dairy farm finances ready if 2015 turns bad

For every euro that a dairy farmer has borrowed from AIB, there is €3 held in credit funds with AIB, according to the bank’s head of business banking, Ken Burke.

He told a recent Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine debate on the dairy industry that the most recent figure from the Central Bank for the total outstanding balances to Irish agriculture is €3.4 billion, compared to €5.5bn in 2009.

He said, “The level of farm debt has reduced quite considerably post farm waste management investment.