Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced more funding to help ag-related businesses deal with the impacts of COVID-19.
The new $100 million Agriculture and Food Business Solutions Fund will be overseen by Forage Capital Inc out of Calgary and paid out through Farm Credit Canada.
“The idea behind this fund is to help businesses in the food industry; could be primary production, agri-tech, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. So, all the businesses working around the food supply chain are eligible. And it's for well-established companies who have a proven track record, but are facing a major business disruption.”
She says the fund will look at flexible financing solutions like convertible debt investments.
”It means that it's kind of a loan. But if the company has a hard time to repay, they can pay back with a piece of equity. This is you know, the type of loan that it's taking, let's say, a higher level of risk, and it could be very helpful for a company that’s facing a disruption, unexpected disruptions.”
She notes applications for the Business Solutions Fund will be assessed individually on their merit and will be supported to a maximum of $10 million.
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