FARMERS SHOULD contact their agricultural bank managers early to seek advice and support during the current covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to The SF, the head of UK agriculture at Clydesdale Bank, Brian Richardson, said: “The banks are here to support the agricultural industry and we have many agricultural managers with close links with the sector who are part of an important support community.

“There were a lot of worries early on around whether funding would be there,” he conceded. “Farmers now know that if they have new challenges as a result of Covid-19, that we are here and ready to support them, but they should get in touch with their agricultural bank manager as early as possible.

“We are still seeing transactions going ahead which were set in motion before the current pandemic, but new investments may slow down for now due to the uncertainty,” Mr Richardson continued. “Agriculture is a really robust and resilient industry and farmers are good at getting on with what they have always done, knowing we are here as a bank in the background.”

He concluded: “This crisis has sent a strong message that we need to treasure our food industry more and retain a strong farming industry at the heart of the food supply chain. It is all very well to have open markets and worldwide supply, but these past weeks has shown that we need food imminently and that on our doorstep we have high quality produce being supplied every week by UK farmers."

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