Ontario beef farmers receive extension for repaying federal advance payment loans

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

Recent adjustments to extend the repayment period for federal advance payment loans should help Ontario cattle farmers, a recent Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) newsletter says.

Administered by the Guelph-based, Agricultural Credit Corporation, the federal advance payments program provides growers with up to $400,000 in operating capital. The first $100,000 of such loans is free of interest cost with the remaining balance up to $300,000 at bank prime rates.

Changes announced March 19 include a single, stream-lined, application process, quicker approvals and new repayment rules for cattle farmers with constant inventory.

A BFO newsletter published last Friday says “advances can now be repaid up to a year after issuance rather than upon the sale of cattle.” The changes followed recommendations by BFO, said the newsletter article that was attributed to that organization’s communications manager LeaAnne Wuermli.

It means farmers “can realize more savings by extending their interest-free portion of the loan to a full year versus paying back on their first sales of cattle,” the newsletter says.

The program for cattle farmers opens annually, April 1, and remains open to applications between April and the following March. Loans are available on current inventory held for sale during the current program year.

Advance loans for livestock require that borrowers be enrolled in the federal Agristability program which provides insurance against large margin declines.

Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) is a not-for-profit farm organization formed in 1992 by a coalition of farm organizations now including 19 producer groups. Since it began, the corporation has loaned more than $4 billion to Canadian farmers, a statement on the ACC website says. BF