Customers of Farm Credit Canada in parched areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan may be able to get breaks on their outstanding loan payments.
FCC on Monday announced it would work with affected customers on “solutions for their operation(s)” such as deferral of principal payments and/or otherwise amending their loan payment schedules.
The offer applies to farmers in “parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan facing financial hardship as a result of dry conditions.”
The federal farm lender said it would also expand those offers to include customers in other areas “if and when the need arises.”
Read Also
CBOT Weekly: Little change expected from USDA
Only minor changes to the grain and oilseed balance sheets are expected in the Sept. 12 supply and demand report from the United States Department of Agriculture, said an analyst.
Livestock and grain producers in Alberta and some parts of Saskatchewan have reported “drastically reduced” levels of rainfall since April 1, FCC said, with some areas of Alberta at their driest for soil moisture in the past 50 years.
“These kinds of extreme dry conditions, in some cases for the second year in a row, can cause financial challenges for farm operations — not to mention personal hardship and stress,” FCC CEO Michael Hoffort said.
FCC last year made similar offers in December, to B.C. poultry and egg producers impacted by avian flu quarantines; in August, to farmers hit by excess moisture in Quebec’s Monteregie and Eastern Townships; and in July, to producers affected by flooding in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba. — AGCanada.com Network
