Federal government makes adjustments to 2015 Cash Advance Program

Mar 30, 2015

Will make it easier for producers to request advances

News out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announcing some major enhancements to Canada’s Advance Payments Program (APP).

The changes are aimed at improving and streamlining administrative processes, providing better flexibility, more repayment options and giving producers easier access to the program.

"Our Government remains committed to supporting Canada's producers and our world-class agriculture industry to ensure it remains competitive on world markets,” said Minister Ritz. “We've improved the Advance Payments Program to give farmers a more flexible tool to manage their cash flow, while cutting red tape and improving efficiency.”

In late February 2015, the federal government announced the Agricultural Growth Act, also known as Bill C-18 was coming into effect. The Act allowed for improvements to the Advance Payments Program and modernized and made federal agriculture legislation stronger.

Some of the new changes to the APP will be effective April 1, 2015 and include:

Producers can receive commodity advances through one application
Producers do not have to be primarily occupied in farming

The Canadian government has also laid out some targets for 2016, including:

More options for producers to secure an APP advance
Flexibility for repayment methods

Representatives from different areas of agriculture are looking forward to what the new changes have in store.

"The Advance Payments Program is a valuable marketing and cash flow management tool for farmers,” said Dale Leftwich, president of SaskCanola. “Our organization is continually looking for opportunities to enhance producer prosperity, so improvements that make this program more accessible and easier for farmers to use are welcomed news.”

Dave Solverson, President of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said these tools will allow cattle producers to market their animals when it best suits them and will make Bill C-18 more user friendly for farmers across the country.

Join the discussion and tell us what you think of these new changes. How might they affect your current farming operation?

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz

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