Advanced Payment Program (APP) Applications Now Available for Nursery Growers
Advanced Payment Program (APP) Applications Now Available for Nursery Growers
Effective immediately, nursery growers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba can apply for an APP loan through the Agri-Commodity Management Association (ACMA). Application forms can be accessed, and questions can be answered by contacting Kara Saville, Program Delivery Manager or going to the ACMA website. Contact details and the web address are at the end of this message.
We would like to offer sincere thanks to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for responding so quickly to CNLA’s request to find an administrator for the APP and for granting approval to the ACMA to be that be administrator. Sincere thanks also go out to the ACMA for pulling all of the approvals and application forms together in such a professional and timely fashion.
Here are the details you need to know:
ACMA is happy to announce that we have been approved to administer the Advance Payments Program to nursery producers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta! The Advance Payments Program (APP) is a federally guaranteed short-term loan program meant to help producers with cash flow to get their product to market. We have been administering this program, on behalf of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, for over 10 years, mainly in the Atlantic Provinces, and have over 100 items approved to issue an advance on.
The maximum advance allowed for any one producer, or farm, is $1,000,000. The first $100,000 advanced each year is interest free and anything above that is charged interest at Prime less ¼%. We do charge an administration fee based on the total advance received but other than that, if repayments are made on time, there are no additional fees associated with the program.
For nursery production, advances are available starting April 1st each year and will be calculated based on what you plan to sell in the current season (12 months from your advance date or until your operation closes for the winter, whichever is earlier). Our advance rates should be 50% of market value and are used to calculate your requested advance amount. When calculating your advance amount, we look at two things, the first is your anticipated production/sales for the current season which you will calculate through the attached spreadsheet. The second is your 2020 AgriStability Reference Margin. Whichever of these is the lower amount will become the maximum we can advance in the current year.
For most commodities, repayments are due within 30 days of you being paid or 60 days from shipping however, given the quantity of products you move in a year it would be impossible to track and repay on each item sold. Instead, nursery producers are allowed to provide up to 6 post-dated cheques to repay your advance. These payments should be roughly in line with the repayment timeframes – meaning if you start selling in July you can’t wait until November to repay – but we will discuss repayment schedules as part of the application to make sure it fits within program rules and still works for you. The interest free portion is always the first to be repaid.
As with most things, there is a lot of additional information related to this program that becomes very producer specific. I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions on the program or would like any help with the application.
An important thing to note – In order to use APP, we do require you to be enrolled in AgriStability. If you are not currently enrolled in AgriStability, you only have until April 30th to enroll for this year.
AgriStability link: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/?id=1292604126317
ACMA’s website: http://agricommodity.ca/app/
Forms for nursery production will be either Corporation/Partnership with Storable Non-Storable OR Individual with Storable Non-Storable – whichever matches your business structure.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you,
Kara Saville
Program Delivery Manager
Agri-Commodity Management Association
Please note our NEW address:
7 Atlantic Central Dr.
East Mountain, NS B6L 2Z2
Tel: (902) 895-0581
Fax: (902) 893-7063