Food & Agro development

The BNP Paribas Group has extensive international experience in providing services within this sector and is the European leader in financing the leasing of agricultural machinery. In Turkey and the USA, banks of the BNP Paribas Group are among the leaders of business financing companies from Food & Agro sector.

In 2019, we introduced new products to the offer for customers from the Food & Agro sector.

The Agro Hub of the BNP Paribas Group began operations in April 2018. Its goal is to create a Food & Agro competence center for Banks and customers from the BNP Paribas Group in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Africa.

The Agro Hub of the BNP Paribas Group is becoming a platform for international cooperation, a source of inspiration for our competition, and a responsible stimulator of development, expansion of production and gaining new markets for the agro-food industry. Agro Hub’s activities include defining a sectoral strategy, proposing comprehensive products and optimal solutions, cooperation with Food & Agro entities in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, as well as educational and information initiatives.

Agronomist is a comprehensive and modern portal created in cooperation with farmers and manufacturers. It is a unique platform in the agro-food industry which provides a knowledge base and a wide set of professional tools for farmers and processing companies. Every day, it provides several thousand registered users with information from Poland and the world. The portal also contains information about interesting events and the latest solutions which facilitate running a farm or a processing business.

The portal was launched on April 1, 2019 and was the product of numerous consultations and workshops with the Bank’s partners and clients from the Food & Agro sector. To understand the needs of this group of recipients, over 200 people were tested and workshops were organised with a carefully selected group (diverse in terms of age, sex, farm size, production type and place of residence). As a result, Agronomist is a unique website which responds to the actual needs of agro-food sector stakeholders. Its growing position among specialized agro-food portals is evidenced by the linearly growing number of users.

Agronomist is the only online portal which contains a broad knowledge base, primarily related to market analyses (conducted by a team of Bank BNP Paribas analysts), as well as global and local trends in various sectors of agricultural production and processing. In addition, users can find a lot of practical information on green energy, biodiversity or sustainable production. As a result, the portal is becoming a source of professional knowledge regarding innovative solutions which improve production, while ensuring a positive impact on the environment and climate change. In case of problems, users can receive the advice of experts through the portal, and thus receive a quick response.

At the same time, the portal is a source of modern tools which support farmers in decision-making processes related to agricultural production. It helps farmers achieve better economic results by providing them with current market information, but also by providing solutions for cutting the costs of production (these include: the monitoring of machines, the wear of capital goods, the use of production protection products through a farm management system or satellite nitrogen monitoring). These tools also help farmers to produce in an environmentally sustainable manner. The website also contains accurate weather forecasts and frost alerts, which allows its users to prepare their farms for particular weather conditions.

Find out more at the website.

Food & Agro Trends is a new, cyclical publication prepared by the agro-food analysts of Bank BNP Paribas. It presents the medium-term situation in the most important sectors of the agro-food industry (cereal, dairy, meat, fruit and vegetable) in Poland. The content is enriched with price forecasts for selected agrocultural raw materials. It is published quarterly, in electronic form, on the Agronomist website. Food & Agro Trends complements the biweekly Food & Agro News, in which we analyse the current situation in this sector.

Bank organises free informative meetings for farmers, during which experts from various fields share their knowledge on current topics related to Polish agriculture.

In March 2019, we organised the 4th edition of the Agro Academy – Horizon of Change. The meetings were devoted to current topics of interest to the industry and changes awaiting Polish agriculture in the near future. The Bank’s experts presented analyses and development prospects of selected agricultural markets in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2020. The issues raised by other speakers included: energy costs on farms, (taking into account the potential benefits of self-sufficiency in energy production from renewable sources), the new nitrate directive to prevent environmental pollution, the use of data available at Biuro Informacji Kredytowej S.A. and protection against debtors.

Additionally, in November 2019 as a part of Agro Academy a meeting dedicated to women was held, where topics such as: selected agricultural markets in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy after 2020., women succession aspects, impact of organic food on human health, report on the most comprehensive study on women in Poland – 5 segments of modern Polish Women – were covered.

The Agro-conference, organised by Bank BNP Paribas, is the first conference addressed to the agro-food sector. Agro-conference is a meeting of representatives of the Food & Agro sector, during which we discuss key topics from the perspective of companies in this sector. The event, organised since 2006, has become an important annual meeting of the Bank with clients and institutions from this industry.

Evolution or revolution in the supplier – distributor – consumer ecosystem? –  was the topic of the 2019 conference, which included discussion panels on the role of innovation (from the point of view of the producer and distributor), the export strategy of Polish enterprises and contemporary models of cooperation between the supplier, i.e. the manufacturer and the distributor. The conference was attended by 270 representatives of companies from the food production sector.

The topics presented and discussed at the Agro-conference were the result of several months of research. We asked for the opinion of leading agro-food sector representatives and tested c. 1,000 consumers, analysing their food-shopping habits. Agro-conference is a unique platform for dialogue with the agro-food industry.

Find out more at the Bank’s website

Agro Kurier is a modern farmer’s magazine published twice a year with a circulation of 50,000. Bank BNP Paribas is its creator and publisher. Copies of the magazine are available at those Bank branches which are most frequently visited by farmers and at key agricultural events.

The magazine contains informative articles, Banks analyst commentary, a calendar of future trade fairs and events for farmers, reports, curiosities and entertainment columns. The magazine is created at the Bank, but is edited in cooperation with journalists.

Bank BNP Paribas has been financing the Agro market for years. Our experts are constantly observing the market and how it changes. Recently, we have noticed a deterioration in the economic situation of farmers, which results in increased interest in the loan offer. Financial institutions often offer loans which are not well suited to the specific needs of the sector, thus contributing to the growing debt of farmers.

As a banking leader in the Agro sector, we constantly conduct analyses to collect up-to date information on the specifics of this segment. Therefore, we know how to ensure that external financing is as safe as possible and serves the development of agribusiness. Based on our knowledge and experience, we have prepared an information and education campaign. We invited partners to participate in the initiative: Concordia Ubezpieczenia (Generali Group) and Biuro Informacji Kredytowej (BIK S.A.).

The goal of the campaign, conducted since February 2019, is to reach farmers and inform them about the principles of safe financing. We remind them what to consider when choosing a bank or when deciding on a loan, and what to do when problems with settling liabilities arise.

In addition to the standard display of materials at our branches, we met with clients during events organised by our Bank, such as Agro Academy, at industry events, such as Agrotech and Agro Show as well as at partner conferences. We also placed information about safe financing for the Agro sector in our Agro Kurier magazine.

Find out more at the Bank’s website.

In 2019, Bank BNP Paribas celebrated the 100th anniversary of financing agribusiness. We are the heir to the Polish State Agricultural Bank, established in 1919, and we continue the tradition of financing agriculture and food economy.