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Farm Improvement and Marketing Cooperatives
Loans Act (FIMCLA) Evaluation
Program description
FIMCLA is a federal government program designed to increase the
availability of loans for the improvement and development of farms
and the processing, distribution or marketing of farm products by
cooperative associations. Under the Act, the government guarantees
80% of each loan made. The Minister is liable to pay to the lender
95% of a loss sustained as a result of a loan made, provided that
the requirements of the Act and the Regulations have been met. The
financial institution undertakes its own due diligence to determine
borrower eligibility.
Replacing the Farm Improvement Loans Act (FILA) of 1944, FIMCLA
increases access to credit for both farmers and their cooperative
associations. FIMCLA guaranteed loans are intended to help borrowers
improve farm assets, strengthen production, and/or improve financial
viability. Borrowers also benefit from advantageous interest rates,
lower equity requirements and flexible repayment terms. FIMCLA was
designed to rectify limitations of FILA.
Evaluation objectives
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has hired, through a competitive
process, Prairie Research Associates (PRA) Inc. to conduct an evaluation
of the FIMCLA. This program has not been evaluated since it was
enacted in 1987. The objectives of this evaluation are to:
- address issues related to the design and relevance of FIMCLA
to the needs of the agricultural community
- assess the program=s accessibility and appropriateness within
the Canadian farm loan business environment
- make conclusions about program management effectiveness, results
achievement, and linkages to the Agricultural Priority Framework
(APF)
- address issues raised by the lending community.
Evaluation methodology
The methodology for this evaluation involves:
- administrative data analysis
- document review
- benchmarking analysis
- client survey
- lender interviews
- other key informant interviews
- case studies.
What implications does this evaluation have for you if you are
a FIMCLA client?
1) You may receive a letter and be asked to participate in a client
telephone survey.
The purpose of the client survey is to understand your experiences
with FIMCLA, in order to judge the effectiveness of this program
in meeting your needs and to determine which changes should be made.
This is also your chance to comment on your experience with this
program and suggest how it could be improved.
We randomly selected farmers from a list of clients who have received
a FIMCLA guaranteed loan. These clients will receive a letter informing
them about the survey and soliciting their participation. Participation
is completely voluntary. Should they not want to participate, the
letter provides a toll free number to call to remove themselves
from the survey. Someone from PRA will be calling some of these
individuals to complete the telephone survey. To help respondents
answer the questions, AAFC has provided the telephone interviewer
with basic information on the respondent=s loan. PRA will use the
respondent=s survey responses and information about his/her loan
for statistical analysis. Respondents= information will be kept
completely confidential, and PRA will provide AAFC with aggregate
results only. Individual respondents will never be identified in
any reports, and their information will not be shared with any other
programs, financial institutions, or government departments.
What implications does this evaluation have for you if you are
a lender?
1) You may be asked to participate in a lender interview.
The purpose of the interviews is to understand your experiences
with FIMCLA as a lender, and to judge the effectiveness of the program
in meeting the needs of your financial institution as well as the
needs of agricultural producers. This information will help determine
if changes should be made to the program. This is your chance to
comment on your experience with this program and suggest how it
could be improved.
2) You may receive a phone call from a client (farmer) who received
a client survey.
The purpose of the client survey is to understand farmers' experiences
with FIMCLA in order to judge the effectiveness of this program
in meeting their needs and to determine which changes should be
made. This is also their chance to comment on their experience with
this program and suggest how it could be improved. See the section,
"What implications does the evaluation have for you if you
are a client" for a description of the survey protocol.
Your encouragement to clients to participate in the survey would
be appreciated. A good response will enhance the credibility of
the evaluation and support potential changes to the program that
benefit clients and lenders.
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