Helping clients secure AMC’S new Sustainable Practices Loan

The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AMC), a popular choice of finance for farmers, landowners and other agricultural businesses, is evolving its offer with a specific initiative to support clients transitioning to more sustainable practices. AMC, highly regarded for its specialism in providing long term mortgages, now offers the Clean Growth Financing Initiative (CGFI), with clients already benefiting from this provision.

Lincolnshire celeriac grower Jack Buck (Farms) Ltd was among the first businesses to secure a CGFI loan.

CGFI offers fee-free loans for sustainable projects and purchases to help British agriculture reduce its environmental impact across several areas including water, waste, energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

For Jack Buck (Farms) Ltd, as its sales grew more on-site storage was needed and it opted to invest in a 1,000-tonne refrigerated bulk store to displace older stores that it rented annually.

It had previously secured a loan with the AMC to buy land and that provided security for it to borrow again.

Charlie Bryant at Brown&Co, which has 10 AMC-approved agents, managed and processed the application with minimal fuss to make the whole process easy for the grower.

The store, which captures energy savings of 25%, was built in 2024 and was used to store the first crop of celeriac in November.

AMC’s network of local agents act as an important bridge between nine regional managers and clients to discuss proposals and options for all AMC loans and complete paperwork.

The team at Brown&Co helps clients who require finance from AMC to acquire land, construct new buildings, invest in fixed equipment, restructure borrowing, fund renewable energy schemes
and other projects.

AMC is unlike other lenders because it enables clients to borrow sums starting at £25,001 and facilitates lending over the long-term, from five to 30 years.

Finance can be secured against land as well as property to help a borrower increase the capital it needs.

Another feature unique to AMC is its interest-only and repayment options, or a blend of both, on a variable or fixed rate basis; there is always a possibility interest rates may go down leaving a fixed rate loan at a higher level compared to a variable rate loan. However, if interest rates rise, a fixed rate loan will remain at the same rate.

Rates can be set for the lifetime of the agreement, unlike many other secured loans or overdraft agreements, and there are no early repayment charges for variable rate loans.

For many borrowers one of AMC’s features, the ability to transfer agreements to the next generation, is a valuable option. This is subject to AMC credit criteria and the client continuing to meet its obligations to AMC.

AMC’s experienced and knowledgeable support teams and regional managers understand the sector’s unique funding needs.

Another important facility is that funding decisions can be approved in principal before a sealed bid is made or an auction is held.

AMC loans are available for business purposes only, provided on a secured loan basis. Minimum AMC standard loan of £25,001. To meet customer requirements, lending criteria will vary. Lending is subject to status.

This article was featured within our latest Innovate magazine. To read more, please click here.