The world's biggest manufacturer of agriculture equipment is working with an Irish bank to enable farmers' acquisitions of farming equipment, according to a published report.
The effort between John Deere and Bank of Ireland was unveiled last week at the Farm Machinery Show. Deere joins AGCO and JCB ECI in its efforts to help Irish farmers efficiently till their farmland.
"We have a dedicated machinery fund of €60m (nearly $81.2 million)," Robin Bradley of AIB said. "And we can go back for more if we use this up before September. But we're having a big job convincing people we are actually open for business."
Analysts view Bank of Ireland entering the finance arena with Deere as an effort to widen its portfolio for agriculture and finance.
The companies primarily have inked pacts with interest rates in the 6-to-8 percent range. Some farmers reported being asked to sign on for finance deals with interest rates as high as 10 percent.
One persistent challenge dealers report is setting up finance deals for farm and agriculture machinery that is more than five years old.
Deere, Bank of Ireland announce finance deals for ag equipment
An Irish bank and Deere announced an initiative to support farmers' purchase of tractors.