Agri-tech set to be the “future of farming”

Amongst its other agriculture finance products Barclays has a £200 million Agriculture Fund which is dedicated to supporting farming businesses that are striving to succeed in this ever-changing market. It provides funding for investment into infrastructure, Agri-tech or diversification into new revenue streams, with a pre-set arrangement fee, dependent on the term of the loan.

Barclays has therefore formed a new agritech team which is focused on supporting UK start-ups to connect with the farming community and boost innovation.

A record year for agri-tech

Last year was a record year for financing in agri-tech, with more than £1.5 billion invested in the sector. The UK agri-tech industry contributes £14.3 billion to the British economy and employs 500,000 people.

Barclays’s appointments signal the bank’s intention to further support innovation in the UK’s farming sector and to ensure new technology, products and services boost growth.

Led by Craig Sigley (pictured above), the new agri-tech team will be split regionally and will include regional relationship managers.

Sigley explained that each relationship manager brings a wealth of expertise to their new role in understanding exactly what farmers look for from emerging players in the sector as well as supporting agri-tech companies with their business growth plans.

Mark Suthern, Head of Agriculture at Barclays explained that the bank already has a strong roster of agri-tech clients, including Agrivi and Well Cow.

Agrivi’s software helps farmers to manage and monitor crop production, while Well Cow has developed a device that can detect digestive problems in cattle and improve their welfare.

Suthern said: “Agri-tech is thriving in the UK and future innovations are likely to help address many of the issues that the farming industry faces today.

“Technology has already transformed the way some of our customers farm, for example, using drones to survey land and track livestock, robotic fruit-picking machines and sensors that monitor poultry.

“Our new dedicated agri-tech team is ideally placed to help start-ups scale and grow and connect them with the farming community.”

All the new agri-tech appointments have previously spent time at Barclays, with some of them serving in the bank’s agricultural finance team.

The relationship managers will work with farmers to understand what the latter wants from emerging players in the sector, as well as support agri-tech companies with their business growth plans.

Barclays’ announcement comes after NatWest added agricultural finance specialist UK Agricultural Finance (UKAF) to its panel of alternative lenders as it looked to support the farming industry.