Farmers and Ranchers who may need a little extra financial help can access funds through the federal government’s 2018-2019 Cash Advance Payments Program.
The Cash Advance program is administered through the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA).
CEO Rick White says they’re taking pre-applications right now while farmers have the time to do the paperwork.
"Through CCGA, we now offer advances on about 45 different commodities including all field crops and a lot of the livestock communities as well," he said. "It's kind of a one-stop shop where farmers can take advance out of probably just about anything they may have on the farm. That gives them a lot of flexibility in terms of the amounts that their eligible for and the way that they can pay the advances back."
Farmers interested in applying can send in their pre-application now, so they have the money in early April.
White says under the program, farmers are eligible for a cash advance, of up to $400,000, with $100,000 of that being interest-free.
"Typically we usually issue about 10,000 advances under the program in any given year, and that was the case for this past year," he said. "The total value of the program on any giving year, we run from 1.3 to 1.6 billion dollars a year and this year was just under 1.4 billion so it was right kind of the average mark for us."
Source : Steinbachonline