HSBC UK strengthens support for farmers

We’ve stepped up support for our agricultural customers as weeks of dry conditions and periods of heat stress have increased pressure on farmers across the UK.

August may have ended with much-needed downpours in many parts of the country, but when the Environment Agency released figures earlier in the month, 71.3% of England was in drought.

Our HSBC UK Agriculture team has been seeing the effects first-hand – from reduced yields and crop quality in some of the worst-affected areas to poor grass growth putting pressure on livestock feed supplies.

Our Agriculture Relationship Managers are contacting customers to find out how they’re being impacted, to discuss the potential need for working capital later in the year, how they could adapt farming methods to mitigate the effects of changing weather patterns, and the support we can provide.

This support includes HSBC UK’s Sustainable Farming Pathway (opens in new window), which launched two years ago.

Martin Hanson, Head of Agriculture at HSBC UK, said: “Farming businesses are used to managing uncertainty, but the frequency and intensity of extreme weather is making resilience an everyday commercial priority.

“No two farms are the same. If farmers are experiencing difficulties meeting day-to-day working capital needs or keeping up with repayments on existing borrowing, we’ll look at the best ways to support them, including, if appropriate, repayment holidays and restructuring existing debt.

“Beyond those short-term needs, it’s also important that we engage with farmers to explore the need for finance to invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation actions to make farms more resilient in the seasons ahead, and HSBC UK is very supportive of such approaches.”

Working closely with customers

Agriculture Relationship Manager Ellie Darey has been working closely with one of our dairy customers to understand how increasingly extreme conditions are affecting them.

Following increased winter rainfall, Ellie helped provide additional funding to increase the farm’s slurry-handling facilities.

When the weather changed, and the dry, hot summer months led to expectations of a poorer maize crop, she helped arrange additional working capital to support the purchase of extra feed for the farm’s dairy cows.

Ellie said: “By working closely with the customer, I’ve been able to understand the challenges faced by the business and provide appropriate funding to help build resilience and navigate more extreme weather patterns.”

Find out more about how our Sustainable Farming Pathway has helped customers including:

• The Mackay family (opens in new window), who have farmed the land around Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands, for four generations
• Will Oliver (opens in new window), who runs a farm in Leicestershire; his family has banked with HSBC for three generations