Keen to make the most of the limited time she had on the farm, she recognised she needed to invest, so she turned to her local credit union and applied for a Cultivate loan.

Developing the farm enterprise

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Louise currently has a herd of Angus cattle. She lives on the farm with her husband and their three daughters. For a long time, Louise relied on borrowing her father’s tractor whenever she needed one. With her days already split between work, farming and a busy family life, the constant back and forth was time-consuming and made it hard to get jobs done when she needed to.

Buying her own tractor had been on Louise’s mind for some time. To make it happen, she contacted her local credit union and availed of a Cultivate loan.

“My local credit union officer guided me through it, really. It was just an application form that needed to be filled out. I dropped in some paperwork and we had an answer really within the next day. The loan has made a huge impact to our lives. It just makes everything easier. It means we can do the jobs we need to do with the tractor when we need to do them."

Participating Cultivate credit unions make decisions locally and offer quick loan approval for farmers. Louise’s local credit union, Mitchelstown Credit Union, understood the reality facing farmers in Ireland. For Louise, that kind of local support also carries a longer-term hope, that her daughters grow up seeing farming as a path they could choose: “Having access to the Cultivate loan has definitely given me more confidence in planning for the future and investing in my farm. As a woman in agriculture, it’s a huge confidence boost to know we can go to our local credit union, apply for a loan and be supported and that the flexibility is there to help us plan for the future we want."

Unsecured loans

Having gone through the full process of applying and securing a Cultivate loan, Louise reflects on a very positive experience:

The main benefits of a Cultivate loan for farmers are that it’s straightforward, it’s simple, it’s fast, it’s flexible and it’s personal”.

As a farmer-friendly finance option, repayment schedules are available up to a period of ten years, with flexibility to repay at times that make sense for the individual farmer. There is no need to be an existing credit union member to avail of a Cultivate loan.  Farmers can sign up in their local participating credit union office and be eligible to apply for a Cultivate loan immediately.

Cultivate loans are used by farmers like Louise for a wide range of investments including:

  • Stocking or working capital.
  • Upgrading farm buildings and handling facilities.
  • Purchasing new or second-hand machinery.
  • Supporting on-farm TAMS investments.
  • Undertaking farm improvement works.

    • Cultivate is the Collaborative Finance credit union lending platform for farmers, an initiative that provides short to medium-term loan finance built specifically around the growing needs of Irish farmers. Cultivate is a farmer friendly finance option for farmers seeking unsecured funding up to €100,000 up to ten years. Secured lending of up to €300,000 up to 30 years is also available from participating credit unions.

    Cultivate loans are available at over 170 locations in Ireland. A full list of participating credit unions is available at www.Cultivate-CU.ie/#map

    If you need quick loan approval and a flexible, farmer-friendly loan, FREEPHONE 1800 839 999, call into your participating local credit union or visit Cultivate-CU.ie to learn more.

    Loans are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. If you do not meet the repayments on your loan, your account will go into arrears.

    This may affect your credit rating which may limit your ability to access credit in the future. The cost of your repayments may increase. Credit unions in Ireland are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.