AGCO Finance, a global provider of financing solutions for agricultural equipment, announced the official launch of its Climate Journey Campaign and associated thought leadership initiatives designed to reaffirm the organization as a trusted partner for farmers in a changing world. The campaign is part of the firm’s ongoing goal to build a sustainable future and foster long term value for stakeholders, with a focus on growing regenerative solutions to 25 percent of annual business.
The initiatives are focused on creating a sustainable legacy for future generations, with the goal of embedding more sustainable thinking within the company and its employees. Published content from the campaign will include white papers, blogs and video interviews that will provide insight into AGCO Finance’s sustainability efforts and research findings.
“For over 30 years we have worked to support farmers. We believe that the Climate Journey Campaign’s strength lies in its inclusivity and that together we can achieve a lasting impact,” said Jean-Sebastian Leite, Head of Sustainable Finance at AGCO Finance. “We are dedicated to offering products and services to our clients that will help ease their transition to a more sustainable way of farming.”
AGCO Finance’s Climate Journey Campaign is part of its three-pillar sustainability framework. The first pillar consists of commercial programs aimed at farmers and includes a $55 million (€50 million) Climate Journey Fund—launched in July 2021 —dedicated to offering farmers pursuing sustainable farming practices tailored interest rates on their loans. The second pillar is focused on stakeholder engagement and includes strategic partnerships with governments and institutions that have pledged support for climate action under the 2021 Glasgow Financial Alliance on Net Zero (GFANZ). As part of this pillar, the Rabobank Group—the firm’s parent company—has committed to net-zero and has commenced legitimate steps to invest in improved soil health and food systems transformation. The third and final pillar is aimed at educating its own employees to become climate ambassadors in order to better serve clients through learning and development.
One of the first published piece of works from the campaign is a white paper, “Farming for a better future,” which outlines the importance of acting now, what role agriculture can play in the fight against climate change, and what opportunities exist for farmers. As the campaign progresses, the firm will continue to explore new ways to help farmers benefit from potential revenue streams such as carbon credits, while also helping them become more resilient to increasingly more frequent adverse weather events.
“Within the communities we operate, we want to better understand our environmental and social impacts and design solutions to address them," said Louisa Parker-Smith, Director of Global Sustainability at AGCO. “Placing farmers at the center of our conversation, we embrace the challenge of this generation: feeding the growing world populations while mitigating climate change.”
AGCO Finance’s campaign, which is an ongoing journey for the firm, is inspired by the company’s purpose to becoming the dedicated finance solutions partner that will help farmers grow their business and create a sustainable legacy for future generations.
AGCO Finance is a global provider of financing solutions for agricultural equipment. The company was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between global financial solutions partner DLL and AGCO, one of the global leaders in the design, manufacturing and distribution of agricultural equipment. AGCO Finance is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The company manages a gross credit portfolio of over $10 billion, employs over 350 people worldwide, and provides customer and dealer finance solutions in 24 countries.