THE York office of Carter Jonas has been named as one of the top performing Agricultural Mortgage Corporation agencies in the UK.

AMC-lending to farmers in the North of England reached record levels last year and was one of the busiest ever for Carter Jonas.

Andrew Fallows, partner and senior AMC agent at York, said the demand reflected the key drivers of the agricultural sector over the past year.

“Farmers have faced significant increases in fuel and fertiliser costs and the level of working capital needed to ensure these businesses operate effectively rose accordingly.”

The land market was also very buoyant during 2008.

Mr Fallows said good-quality, productive farm land was in high demand, driving average prices to over £5,000 an acre – some commercial land exceeded £7,000 per acre.

He said more than 35pc of borrowing last year was to buy land and 34pc for farm inputs, working capital and improvements as farmers reinvested for the long term.

“Of course the credit crunch also impacted in the latter part of the year and as some of the banks came under pressure to change the terms of their lending arrangements, particularly overdraft facilities, we saw an increase in the demand for funding as farmers looked to re-finance away from other less competitive sources,” said Mr Fallows.

He saw no reason why the demand for capital would be any less intensive in the coming year.

“Additionally, with interest rates likely to continue at low levels during the remainder of the year, now would be a good time for farmers to consider fixing their long-term borrowing interest rates,” he said.