Agriculture and the bioeconomy are critically important for food security, environmental sustainability and economic resilience.
Farmers’ unmet needs for financing from banks reached €62 billion in 2022, according to two surveys conducted by EIB Advisory in 2023 under fi-compass. Fi-compass is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank designed to provide advisory services on financial instruments shared management with the European Union.
Small farms and young farmers are especially hurt by the lack of loans and investment options. These farmers often do not have collateral, and they face high interest rates and risks from climate change. For small businesses involved in the production of food or other agricultural products, this financial gap amounted to €5.5 billion in the European Union.
The market assessment performed by EIB Advisory is an important tool to help us develop new financial products and intensify our efforts to make the agricultural and bioeconomy value chain stronger and sustainable. In November 2024, the EIB Board of Directors approved a €3 billion lending envelope for the sector. This new funding will be made available via the Bank’s intermediary lending institutions in the Member States and will focus on young farmers, advancing investments for the EU Green Deal, and supporting women farmers and gender equality.
Under the InvestEU Advisory Hub, EIB Advisory offers support via the Green Gateway advisory programme – providing tools and training to partner banks for more green investments in the sector. This includes online tools, such as the Green Eligibility Checker, that help intermediary banks determine whether the enterprise or project they are financing is “EIB green,” and that assess the energy savings or CO2 reduction.
Via fi-compass, EIB Advisory promotes the use of financial instruments under the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development – the EAFRD – and helps Member State managing authorities find new opportunities to combine financial instruments with grants and guarantees, as well as EIB Group financing. This ensures that funding from the European Union is used efficiently. The work also helps attract more private funding to meet the sector’s growing needs, with a particular focus on young farmers.
Through the Gender Finance Lab, EIB Advisory offers knowledge-building programmes to help financial intermediaries increase their investments in women-led businesses. These programmes focus on creating a compelling business case for investing in women entrepreneurs, showcasing best practices and highlighting opportunities of gender-lens investing with the EIB. The learning programme includes practical tools for partner banks to develop and report on financial and non-financial products supporting women-led businesses across many sectors, including agriculture and the bioeconomy.