Alberta has boosted the limit on the size of loan available under its Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee program, aiming to help producers keep up against rising livestock prices.
An order in council amending the provincial Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation was approved Monday, raising that program’s individual and joint-membership loan limit to $3 million, from $2 million (excluding advances).
The program, which dates back to 1936, typically backs about 17 to 24 per cent of Alberta’s calf crop each year, by way of government-guaranteed, low-interest leveraged financing.
The program is open to Alberta-residing farmers of at least 18 years of age who own or lease land and whose participation is approved by one of Alberta’s 45 local feeder associations. Those associations today have about 2,100 cattle and sheep producer members in all.
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Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson, who was named to the post last month, announced the new loan limit in a release Monday. He described feeder associations as “an essential part of Alberta’s livestock industry and… a proven way to support new entrants in primary agriculture.”
Monday’s order in council makes short work of an assignment in Sigurdson’s mandate letter from Premier Danielle Smith. That letter, dated last Thursday, specifically tasks Sigurdson with delivering on a “platform commitment” to raise the loan guarantee to $3 million.
“Cattle prices have increased 25 per cent since the start of the year and are expected to keep rising,” the province said in its release Monday. “Alberta’s livestock producers are in greater need of easily accessible, low-interest capital backed by a government guarantee.”
Philipp Lammerding, chair of Feeder Associations of Alberta, said Monday the increased limit provides “much-needed support to our existing feeder members while making this capital-intensive business more viable and accessible to new entrants and young farmers in the current market environment.”
The program’s individual loan limit was last raised in late 2018, when it was doubled from the previous $1 million.
The feeder program’s overall loan guarantee limit also got a boost in late 2022, to $150 million from the previous $100 million. That previous limit had been set in 2016, up from $55 million.
Other tasks listed in last week’s mandate letter for Sigurdson include working to reduce barriers to interprovincial meat trade; carrying out plans for irrigation upgrades; and looking at ways to boost nitrogen production from the province’s petrochemical sector to improve the availability of N fertilizer. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
