Advance Payments Program

Overview of the Advance Payments Program program:

The Advance Payments Program is a federal loan guarantee program which provides agricultural producers with easy access to low-cost cash advances. Under the program, you can access up to $1,000,000 in total advances based on the value of the eligible agricultural products you will produce or that you have in storage. The Government of Canada pays the interest on the first $100,000 of your advance (the first $250,000 for 2022 and 2023). You make repayments to the advance as you sell the agricultural products, with up to 18 months to fully repay the advance for most commodities (up to 24 months for cattle and bison).

Benefits of the Advance Payments Program program:

• The majority of agricultural products are eligible for an Advance Payments Program (APP) advance, including:
• Crops
• Grains and oilseeds
• Fruits and vegetables
• Livestock (cattle, hogs, sheep, bison, rabbits, red deer, boar, goats, elk)
• Certain breeding animals intended to be marketed during the production period (cattle, goats, sheep, hogs)
• Bees intended to be marketed during the production period
• Fur pelts and cervid antler velvet
• Honey and maple syrup

Eligibility criteria of the Advance Payments Program program:

• To be eligible you must be:
• A Canadian citizen or permanent resident; or
• A corporation, cooperative, or partnership in which the majority interest is held by Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
• You must also:
• Be the age of majority in the province of operation;
• Have produced/be producing and own the agricultural product; and
• Be responsible for its marketing.
• For a corporation, cooperative, or partnership, one or more of the stakeholders must be the age of majority in the province of operation.