ILCU names Cultivate as national farm brand
Joe Healy, chair of Cultivate, with Helene McManus, president of the Irish League of Credit Unions.
The Irish League of Credit Unions has unveiled Cultivate as the national farm finance brand for Ireland's credit union sector.
Helene McManus, president of the ILCU, said: “Cultivate has established a strong brand identity in Irish farming in the past few years. What began as a pioneering local initiative by four Galway credit unions just five years ago is now widely available across the country.
“The ILCU supports Cultivate as the agri brand of Irish credit unions. Most of the credit unions that offer Cultivate loans are members of the ILCU. We encourage any ILCU-affiliated credit union that wishes to enter the agri lending market to do so as part of the Cultivate brand.”
Cultivate’s loans are available in 120 credit union offices across Ireland. Cultivate is the brand name of Collaborative Finance CLG.
Cultivate provides unsecured lending of up to €75,000 to farmers across the country. Loans are used to develop farm buildings, invest in stock, working capital, and the purchase of tractors and machinery.
Helene McManus said credit unions are diversifying their loan portfolios by increasing their presence in business, agri and mortgage lending.
“It is widely acknowledged by credit unions that cross-sector initiatives and economies of scale are required if this expansion into new areas is to have a real impact in the market,” she said.
The ILCU has has an affiliated membership of more than 290 credit unions in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Joe Healy, chair of Cultivate, said: “Cultivate’s success has been built on a collaborative platform through engagement with all the key agri stakeholders including farmer representative bodies (in particular the IFA), agricultural advisers and training bodies (in particular Teagasc), agri businesses and merchants, accountants, marts and so on.
“Cultivate is delighted to have received the support of the ILCU. This support is a massive boost to us as we seek to achieve our ambition of making Cultivate available to every farmer in the country.”
