Banking groups Lloyds and NatWest have reinforced their support for arable farmers under pressure in the UK, including breadmaking wheat growers.
Exceptionally low rainfall and sustained high temperatures have caused many farmers to report reduced yields, early harvests, water shortages, and other operational difficulties. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) said it had been the earliest harvest in more than 20 years, with many farmers working through the night to avoid the heat of the day.
In response, the banking groups have been working closely with farming businesses to understand the local conditions and provide a tailored set of financial support measures to help them manage both immediate pressures and long-term resilience. These include working capital solutions, overdraft support, loan repayment holidays, interest rate reductions, temporary lending facilities or wider lending arrangements.
Lloyds has a Clean Growth Financing Initiative, which offers discounted lending for eligible green investments such as energy efficiency, renewables, water management and waste management, and Agriculture Transition Finance, designed to support UK farmers moving towards regenerative farming practices.
One of Lloyd’s customers is a farm in Warwickshire growing breadmaking wheat alongside regenerative and heritage grains for Wildfarmed, among others. The bank provides it support as part of its wider work around sustainable farming and environmental baselining with the Soil Association Exchange. The farm is using environmental data to inform management and investment decisions – it is due to undergo a second Lloyds-funded environmental baseline to gauge its impact and performance.
“British agriculture is vital to food security and rural communities, and we remain committed to supporting farmers with the finance and expertise they need to grow and remain resilient,” commented Lee Reeves, UK head of agriculture at Lloyds.
NatWest, meanwhile, noted it was not currently seeing a significant increase in demand for financial support, but was anticipating that enquiries would rise later in the season as farmers evaluate the effects of prolonged dry weather. The bank has a network of named specialist agriculture Relationship Managers, who provide UK farming customer access to dedicated sector expertise. It also offers funding support for investments that improve business resilience, productivity and sustainability, such as water storage and reservoir projects that help capture water in wetter months for use during periods of drought.
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