Farm Improvement and Marketing Cooperatives Loans Act (FIMCLA)

The  Farm Income and Marketing Cooperatives Loans Act (FIMCLA) and its Regulations increase the availability of loans for improvement and development of farms and the processing, distribution or marketing of farm products by co-operative associations.

For individual applicants, including corporations, the maximum amount for a FIMCLA loan is $250 000. The maximum term for most loans is 10 years; for loans on land purchases, 15 years.

For co-operatives associations, the maximum is $3-million for the purpose of processing, distribution or marketing the products of farming on a co-operative basis. Each member or shareholder of the co-operative must be a farmer.

Eligibility Criteria

FIMCLA applicants must be actively engaged in farming in Canada, and must be:

• an individual;
• a partnership;
• a corporation; or
• a co-operative association.

Further, the borrower must:

• meet the Definitions of Farmer and Farming;
• be using the loan for an Eligible Loan Purposes under the program; and
• own/lease farm land that is currently being farmed by the borrower, in Canada.

Eligible Activities

Eligible Loan Purposes

• Purchase or installation of, major repair to or major overhaul of:
• • implements, apparatus and machinery of any kind usually affixed to real or immovable property; or
  • machinery and apparatus for the generation or distribution of electricity, whether or not affixed to real or immovable property.
• Purchase of livestock, including:
  • horses and other equines;
  • cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminants;
  • swine, poultry, bees and fur-bearing animals; and
  • any other prescribed animal.
• Alteration or improvement of machinery and apparatus for the generation or distribution of electricity, whether or not affixed to real or immovable property;
• Erection or construction of fencing or works for drainage;
• Construction, repair or alteration of, or making of additions to, any building or structure on a farm;
• Purchase of, major repair to or major overhaul of tools, implements, apparatus and machines of any kind not usually affixed to real or immovable property;
• Clearing, breaking, irrigating and reclaiming of land;
• Conservation of soil, prevention of soil erosion by the planting of trees and shelter belts;
• Purchase, movement to and installing on a farm of complete or partially complete structures and, where necessary, the completion of the installed structures;
• Where the cost is $2 000 or more, repair or overhaul of fencing;
• Where the cost is $2 000 or more, purchase and the planting of maple trees for maple syrup production and the purchase and planting of fruit trees, Christmas trees, and ginseng;
• Construction of a road or driveway on a farm;
• Land transfer tax, survey, appraisal and legal costs relating to the purchase of additional land;
• Consolidation/refinancing – the amount eligible for this purpose is the total of the outstanding principal balances of the loans to be consolidated, to the maximum of $250 000. Only loans granted under the Farm Improvement Loans Act and the Farm Improvement and Marketing Cooperatives Loans Act may be consolidated, by the lending institution where the loans originated.

Ineligible Loan Purposes

• Improvements to the family dwelling;
• Quota purchases of all kinds;
• Operating loans and loans for the purchase of short-term feeder livestock;
• Consolidation of a lender's ordinary loans;
• Loans for beginning /start-up farmers.

Summary

How to Apply

You must apply to a lending institution authorized to make loans under the provision of FIMCLA.

Authorized institutions are:

• chartered banks;
• Alberta Treasury branches;
• credit unions;
• caisses populaires;
• trust companies;
• loan companies;
• insurance companies.

An interactive map showing participating FIMCLA lenders by province can be found on the FIMCLA Web page.

Quebec Contact(s):
See National Contact.

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National Contact(s):
Manager
FIMCLA
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
7th Floor, Tower 7
1341 Baseline Road
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0C5
Telephone: 613-759-6315
Toll-free (information): 1-888-346-2511
E-mail: fgp-pgf@agr.gc.ca
Web site: http://www.agr.gc.ca/index_e.phtml