Discount bank loan offerings grow to help ag sustainability drive

Farmers are looking to the efficiency gains and long term dividends set to flow from re-calibrating their enterprises for a somewhat greener decade ahead.

Notably, family farms are adopting investment goals with the sort of strategic zeal previously more often associated with corporate agricultural growth agendas.

With almost three quarters of Australia's family farmers saying they are making more money than a decade ago, agribusiness bankers attribute at least some of those financial gains to producers investing in new technology, labour-saving equipment, more efficient machinery and greater economies of scale.

Further incentivising producers to invest has been growing awareness of sustainability demands coming from the marketplace and wider community.

Farmers are also acknowledging greater responsibility for environmental and economic legacies to be inherited by their family's next generation.

Reflecting that rising environmental sentiment, a recent Westpac survey of family-owned farming businesses found 61 per cent of respondents wanted their sustainable farming initiatives to be better recognised and to attract more official accreditation.

Meanwhile, bank lending incentives have emerged to reward farmers' improved environmental goals, encouraging them to spend on more emissions-friendly equipment and land management strategies.

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently launched a discounted Agri Green loan pitched at helping farmers invest in environmentally beneficial projects ranging from farm shelter belts and soil improvement initiatives, to more fuel efficient machinery, solar powered pumps and batteries, or improving water use efficiency.

Canberra's Clean Energy Finance Corporation has also just teamed up with the ANZ Banking Group so the bank is offering loans of up to $5 million at a 0.5pc discounted business rates for borrowers investing in assets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, including precision farming gear and renewable energy equipment, or making energy efficiency upgrades.

CEFC's $200m contribution complements previous co-financing programs with other financiers which have lent about 5500 to small and medium-sized business borrowers.

A potential indication of Westpac's plans has emerged in New Zealand where it is piloting a new sustainable finance loan for farming customers "to align its banking operations with a net zero emissions future".

The bank already offers interest-free loans of up to $40,000 for efficiency upgrades to NZ homeowners insulation and heating systems.

The discounted ag sustainability pilot loan requires customer to meet a criteria on reducing emissions, improving long-term resilience, more sustainable water use, waste and ecosystems.

Commonwealth's Agr Green loan began as a pilot concept last year.

CBA's agribusiness banking executive general manager, Paul Fowler, said it reflected how the society-wide push for more sustainability was creating fresh agribusiness opportunities to help farm efficiency, resilience and long term productivity.

Officially launched in August at a 3.99pc interest rate (now 4.74pc), Agri Green loans can be meshed with property lending if environmental projects are planned for new farmland acquisitions

"Our customers wanted us to play a role in supporting their sustainability ambitions," Mr Fowler said.

"The Agri Green loan option has attracted considerable interest from agribusinesses looking for ways to ensure they're actively transitioning their operation.

"It's giving farmers the chance to bring strategic, financial and environmental goals into one package in a very handy combination.

The first loan went to northern Victorian glasshouse tomato producers, the Van Den Goor family, which replaced diesel power with bioenergy and invested in more efficient lighting and heating at the 1200 square metre Katunga Fresh operation.

Agri Green follows last year's CBA launch of sustainability linked loan deals whereby enterprises get special rates if they commit to lowering carbon emissions via methane, carbon and energy reduction initiatives and also meet other performance goals such as workplace safety improvements.

Mr Fowler said with farmers experiencing big cost hikes for inputs such as fertiliser, crop chemicals and energy this year, they were seeking the most efficient possible return from any capital upgrade.

"Despite the cost challenges, including much higher machinery prices, most farmers are doing well from the current commodity price conditions and many are taking advantage of the below average loan rate environment to invest now so their businesses are prepared when conditions turn tougher," he said.

Indeed, while tougher seasons may soon emerge, Westpac's intergenerational farming report, found 77pc of Australian farmers were optimistic about the future.

More than 81pc were satisfied, or extremely satisfied, with the way their farming enterprise was travelling.

In fact, three quarters felt there were "unlimited opportunities" for younger generations in their family business in the future.

Westpac agribusiness general manager, Steve Hannan, said the research found old and new generations were mostly on the same page on crucial industry issues from climate action to infrastructure needs and supporting their rural communities.

At the same time 72pc of family farms had introduced and increased new farming practices in the past decade.

A distinctive management trend was evident among both seasoned and younger farmers as a new breed of "rural CEO" emerged.

"The way they are governed and set up, family farms are becoming bigger in scale and are running more like corporates," Mr Hannan said.

Increased farm size was most notable in South Australia where 82pc of families expanded their farm area in the past 10 years.

Highest profitability gains in the same period were recorded by 95pc of Tasmanian farm families, followed by Northern Territory (88pc), Queensland (81pc) and Western Australia (80pc).

Mr Hannan pointed to one WA respondent, former CBH chairman, Robert Sewell, whose family cropping operation had grown from 7000 hectares a decade ago to 13,500ha of leased, owned and sharefarmed country.

Bigger, more efficient machinery, better technology and collaboration with agronomy and technical advisors had also helped almost double the Sewell's yields.

In North West NSW, ANZ agribusiness relationship manager, Dave Richards, at Wee Waa, agreed there were a lot of practical advantages to investing in more sustainable farming strategies - even buying a self-propelled spray rig.

"I have a customer who achieved notable savings on fuel (and emissions) and increased the technical capabilities of his spraying programs so chemical applications are now safer and more efficient," he said.

"He's covering more country and spending less per hectare, and doing less maintenance."

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