Program Guidelines
Beef Interest Pay-Down Program Guidelines
Click here for a printable pdf version of the guidelines below
General Information about the Beef Interest Pay-Down Program
The $2.0M Nova Scotia Beef Interest Pay-Down Program will provide assistance to Nova Scotia beef
producers to pay down loan interest for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The interest pay down will support the beef industry in the short term and provide transitional funding
to ensure producers remain viable.
Financial Institutions will hold the liability for the loans and the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture
(NSFA) will facilitate the payment of the interest for those loans.
The program is delivered through the NSFA.
Who is eligible? To be eligible you must meet the following for the duration of the program:
- Loan must support the production of beef;
- Must be a NS registered farm and be a levy paying producer with the Nova Scotia Cattle
- Producers;
- Must be an active beef producer and have been farming at least 6 months and;
- One submission per individual will be accepted per financial institution.
The eligibility of loans will be assessed by the NSFA and will include operating loans, working loans,
short term and intermediate loans secured by a financial Institution. Advance Payment Loans (APP)
are eligible only for the interest on the amount advanced above $100,000. Loans that are not eligible
include mortgages and long term loans (>5 years).
How to participate? To participate, you must fill out and submit the Beef Interest Pay-Down Program
application. The application can be received from the NSFA office or website. The application must be
returned to the NSFA before the deadline.
Payment will be issued based on the interest paid for the beef loan. Payment for the interest paid for
the following program year(s) will be issued after making a claim by submitting the following program
year claim form. You should indicate on the application the amount you intend to borrow for the
following program year(s).
Each application form must be signed by the farm owner and the financial institution. The applicant
will identify type of loan, purpose, amount borrowed, interest rate and interest paid.
What is the application deadline? The deadline to submit the 2009 application is March 31, 2010.
The deadline for the 2010 and 2011 application/ claim forms is March 31, 2011 and March 31, 2012
respectively.
When will payment be made? Payment will be issued to the producer after the application form
and/or claim is submitted and verified. Thus payment will be made at the end of each claim period for
the interest amount paid for that claim period.
What is the Loan limit? Interest will only be paid on those loans for beef production to the maximum
amount of loan to $600,000 per Individual or $6.4% which ever is the lesser amount.
Applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis and payments may be pro-rated if total
demand for program funds exceeds available budget allocations.
Accountability and auditing: Producers will be agreeing to random audit to confirm that the
operation is consistent with eligibility requirements. Producers need to identify on the application how
the loan supports their beef operation.
Payment examples:
Example 1 - Farmer paid interest amount $3,600 on an operating loan of $60,000 for the program
year at a 6% interest rate. The entire loan is for beef production. Payment: = $3,600
Example 2 - Farmer paid interest amount $42,000 on a loan of $700,000 for the program year at a
6% interest rate. The entire loan is for beef production. Payment: = $600,000 X 6% = $36,000