Advance Payments Program (APP)
APP is a federally legislated program under which individuals and independent farming operations, irrespective of the number of partners, members or shareholders, if eligible, are allowed to borrow up to $100,000.00 (interest free) or $100,001 to $1,000,000, (interest bearing) in cash advances through their “Administrator” (the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association)
For up-to-date information on this program visit: https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/advance-payments
All APP applicants must disclose to the NSFGA, any applications with other commodity program Administrators, as well as their involvement in other producing business enterprises (partnership, corporation, cooperative, etc.) Failure to provide accurate information on the APP application will result in loss of benefits under the APP program and automatic default.
APP advances may be issued In-Production or Post-Production. To be eligible for an advance issued In-Production; producer security is required through the Production Insurance Program or the Agri-Stability Program. Agri-Stability may only be used as security if the producer does not have Production Insurance for the Agricultural product for which the advance is being requested.
When advances are issued Post-Production, starting October 1st, the producer must have sufficient crop in Controlled Atmospheric (CA) storage to secure the advance, and the crop must be maintained so that it will remain in marketable condition throughout the loan period.
In-Production and Post-Production loans must be repaid as the crop is sold on or before September 29th of the following year. Since the loan repayment terms go beyond the period covered by Production Insurance and AgriStability, producers are required to provide the NSFGA with a “Post Production Report” on or before December 31st, stating the amount of marketable crop you hold in CA storage. This is to ensure that the crop held in CA storage is sufficient to secure the advance. If you do not produce this report you will be declared in default.
If the “Post Production Report” demonstrates that the crop in CA storage is not sufficient to warrant the advance issued under the APP, the NSFGA shall notify you that you have thirty (30) calendar days to repay the difference between the APP advance issued and the eligible advance calculation. Failing repayment you will be declared in default.
There is an administration fee of 1% (for NSFGA Members) and (2% for Non-Members) of the advance (plus HST). This amount is due before advances are issued. Any outstanding NSFGA invoices must also be paid in full prior to the advance being made, note this does not include of the previous Spring and Fall APP loans.
If you wish to apply for APP, please contact Teresa Rooney at trooney@nsfruitgrowers.ca.
As part of the requirements for the program, the following information needs to be posted on the NSFGA website:
