It's been a challenging year for producers dealing with marketing challenges and a late harvest.
Dave Gallant the Director of Finance and Operations with the Canadian Canola Growers Association says with the increased options available with this year’s Cash Advance Program means that eligible producers can really maximize the interest free portion of the program to their benefit.
“The cash advance program gives farmers access to cash flow, so they don’t have to sell their product when it doesn’t make sense for their farm. That’s really what this is all about. This year farmers have access to $100,000 interest free on all the commodities on their farm. There’s a special allowance from the Federal Government for Canola. So, there’s an extra potential $400,000 interest free on Canola this year and an overall limit of $1,000,000.”
The Federal Government’s Cash Advance Program covers over 40 different commodities including all major field crops and livestock.
Stats show that 1 in 4 grain farmers and 1 in 10 livestock producers are using the program.
He notes with the increased interest free limit for canola this year, they’ve seen more farmers using the program.
“This year we’re seeing our biggest program ever given the Minister’s increased it to a million dollars with the $400,000 interest free extra on Canola. Our biggest program year was 2013 at $1.6 billion - we broke that last week. So, we expect that we could have possibly a $2 billion program this year. So, that’s telling you farmers are taking full advantage of it. Our average advance is well above the historic average of $140,000 per application.”
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