Loïc Guitton, Manager responsible for the Agriculture Market at Banque Populaire Occitane, also shared insights related to the deployment of the FOSTER EAFRD financial instrument from the bank perspective. He described numerous advantages of the product for the farmers and agri-companies, and mentioned some examples of investments, such as the creation of agricultural holdings, the financing of processing equipment, the installation of young farmers in arboriculture and the construction of farm buildings for laying hens in organic farming.
The webinar continued with a panel discussion on how EAFRD financial instruments could support green investments in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region with the participation of: Jean-Guillaume Peytavi, Financial Instruments and Financial Monitoring Officer at Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region; Aubin Bonnet, Senior Mandate Manager at the European Investment Fund; Jean-Baptiste Clavel, Manager of the Agriculture Market Development at Crédit Agricole; and Szilvia Bencze, Policy Officer on financial instruments, DG AGRI. The EAFRD Nouvelle-Aquitaine Fund of Funds (Alter’NA), launched in November 2018, is an EIF-backed guarantee instrument aimed to facilitate access to finance for farmers and agri-businesses in the Region, promoting investments in the development, processing and marketing of agricultural products. The financial instrument primarily supports the Region’s ambitious agro-ecological transition plan for 2030, ‘Neo Terra’, which focuses on climate and environment. In order to facilitate the deployment and dissemination of information about Alter’NA among the relevant stakeholders, EIF, in collaboration with the EIB advisory services, developed a fully-fledged web portal to help final recipients and banks check the eligibility criteria for the potential investment to be supported under the instrument. As of January 2021, EUR 53.2 million have been disbursed to more than 300 final recipients, the majority of which small size farms with less than EUR 1 million turnover. For example, Crédit Agricole, one of the financial intermediaries under the Alter’NA Fund of Funds, reported that as of end February 2021 their pipeline of transactions under the product includes ca. 390 deals for roughly EUR 61 million. In addition, the representative from DG AGRI highlighted that thanks to the new flexibilities in future CAP and CPR rules, financial instruments can facilitate the transition to a greener agriculture with schemes including capital rebate, which could be used to incentivise the farmers to come up with business ideas with much higher environmental ambition.