New Agri-food Project Finance program targets major processing and manufacturing investments, with potential implications for pork processing, value-added production and supply-chain capacity across Canada.
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has launched a new $1 billion Agri-food Project Finance initiative aimed at expanding Canadian food processing and manufacturing capacity, creating a potentially significant new source of financing for large-scale projects across the country’s agri-food sector.
For Canada’s pork industry, the initiative is noteworthy as processing capacity, value-added production and resilient domestic supply chains remain important links between hog production and Canadian and international markets.
FCC opened a 60-day Expression of Interest process on September 14, inviting organizations to bring forward major agri-food processing and manufacturing projects from across Canada.
The specialized financing is part of the federal government’s National Food Security Strategy and is intended primarily for construction-ready infrastructure projects capable of increasing Canada’s domestic food processing and manufacturing capacity.
The initiative is also designed to address a financing challenge facing some major agricultural projects. According to FCC, large processing and infrastructure developments can require levels or structures of investment that are difficult to secure entirely through conventional lending.
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