Luminor grants 358,000 euros for the construction of Lielandžas robotic farm

Luminor Bank has provided a loan of 358,000 euros to Lielandžas farm for the construction of a new farm and for equipping it with a milking robot. The farm is located in Cēsis region and is mainly involved in dairy farming.

"Dairy farming is an essential sector of the Latvian economy, which is currently facing many challenges, so it's particularly important for Luminor to support local farms and their development plans, thus also supporting the sector as a whole. As the turnover of Lielandžas farm has increased by half over the last five years, there's no doubt that the bank's funding will contribute to the farm's even faster growth and competitiveness," says Ilze Zoltnere, Head of Corporate Banking at Luminor in Latvia.

Dairy farming is the main activity of the farm, accounting for 94% of the total turnover. Lielandžas also grows barley, wheat, and triticale for fodder and oats for sale. As the farm has the necessary machinery and its own grain dryer, it's able to feed its livestock with its own resources. The current herd consists of 134 cattle, half of which are dairy cows. The farm is planned to be developed over the next few years, improving efficiency and increasing field and livestock productivity. 

"Our farm is a family business that I took over from my parents eight years ago. The team is made up of very knowledgeable and capable people, so the success and development of the farm and the improvement of the working environment are crucial to us. When deciding on the investment required, I started working with Leveria, which carried out a financial analysis of the planned project in order to decide on the optimum level of investment and worked with Luminor to prepare all the necessary calculations and documents for the bank. I take an active part in the farm's daily operations and I'm confident that, thanks to Luminor's support, the farm will reduce livestock monitoring costs by 10% per year, improve livestock health, and increase milk yields. The funding provided covered most of the necessary costs: 130,000 euros for the construction of the farm and storage and 228,000 euros for the purchase of machinery and equipment. I appreciate the speed and quality of communication with Luminor", says Jānis Šulcs, owner of Lielandžas farm..

The existing farm was not able to provide acceptable animal welfare for the existing number of animals, so the new farm will improve the conditions and allow for further expansion of the herd. In addition, the farm's turnover has increased due to the growing number of cattle and higher milk yield per cow.