Producers with crops to sell who have been held up by the railway grain transportation woes will get more time to repay their 2013 cash advances under the Advance Payments Program.
A stay of default on repayment of advances, for those producers who received an advance on their 2013 crops through the Canadian Canola Growers Association, was announced July 20 by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
The six-month stay, extending to March 31, 2015, had been sought after by the CCGA. In addition to getting more time to repay their advances, producers also have the option to repay their APP advances in cash without penalty. Technical changes are also being brought in to allow producers until the end of the production period to provide proof of sale on any commodity covered by APP.
"The APP is an extremely valuable program for farmers, helping them to market their crops more effectively, said Brett Halstead, president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association and farmer from Nokomis in a statement.
"However, the shipping challenges that many farmers are facing right now make it almost impossible to meet the impending repayment deadline of Sept. 30. This six-month extension will be extremely helpful in alleviating the financial strain that many farmers across the West are facing today."
The deadline for the APP, a financial loan guarantee program providing producers easier access to credit through cash advances, is Sept. 30. Under the program, producers can receive cash advances up to $400,000 of which the first $100,000 in any crop year is interest free.
All producers who received a 2013 APP advance from CCGA are eligible. They are encouraged to contact CCGA for more details.
"Our government has taken immediate, concrete action to get grain moving faster and to improve the performance of the entire rail supply chain in order to help farmers get their crops to market," said Ritz, MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster, in a statement. "This extra time will give producers a bit of breathing room to sell their 2013 crop and meet their financial obligations."
