As The EU bank, the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) can provide rural Europe with a spectrum of significant investment support. This is evidenced by a recent EIB loan agreement to finance French and Belgian research into new climate change-resistant plant varieties.
The EIB’s €40 million finance agreement with family-owned group Florimond Desprez will be used to fund research, development and innovation activities focusing on breeding new crop varieties capable of coping with changes in agro-climatic conditions. Research results should also reduce the environmental footprint of farming activities and, at the same time, safeguard agricultural yields as well as the margins and viability of businesses in the sector. Florimond Desprez focuses on species of crops which are intended for human consumption such as wheat, sugar beet, and potatoes.
