Manitoba Increase Hog Assistance
CANADA - The maximum loan provided under the province’s recently announced Manitoba Hog Assistance Loan Program has now been doubled to $5 million from $2.5 million to assist hog producers who are facing significant cash flow challenges.
6 June 2008
3 minute read
“We’ve monitored the program, we know larger hog operations need to maintain higher cash flows and we are responding to that reality,” said Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk. “We have also extended the application deadline to June 30 to give producers more time to access these funds.”
* "This program is designed to provide hog producers with financial assistance to help cover losses experienced on sales during this challenging market period" |
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Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Rosann Wowchuk.
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The minister noted, earlier this year, the province provided $60 million in loan support to hog producers through the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC), at reasonable interest rates. The Manitoba Hog Assistance Loan Program allows producers to borrow up to $35 per slaughter hog and $10 per weanling sold between Oct. 1, 2007, and May 31, 2008. The loans have to be paid back over an eight-year period.
To date, more than 140 loans for over $38 million have been approved or are being processed. Principal payments on these loans can be deferred for the first three years.
The first year interest rate is 2.25 per cent on loan amounts of up to $1.5 million with 4.5 per cent charged on loan amounts from $1.5 million up to $2.5 million. The rate is 4.5 per cent for all of these loans for years two and three, and six per cent for the last five years. An additional interest rate reduction of one per cent for the first three years is available for young farmers.
For loan amounts from $2.5 million to $5 million, the interest rate will be set at MASC’s eight-year rate of six per cent for the full term of the loan.
“This program is designed to provide hog producers with financial assistance to help cover losses experienced on sales during this challenging market period,” said Wowchuk.
For more information about the Manitoba Hog Assistance Loan Program, producers should contact their local MASC lending representative or visit www.masc.mb.ca.
Wowchuk also announced hog producers with excess weanlings now have access to a new service that finds farm operators who can take weanlings to the finished stage.
“The Finisher Space Listing service is similar to the Hay Listing service that has been a successful resource for producers for several years,” said the minister. “Producers with excess weanlings and those with space for weanlings can contact their GO team offices and request their contact information be posted on the website.
