Friday, January 27, 2012

Hog farmers lobby lenders


The Ontario Pork marketing board is challenging lenders, including Farm Credit Canada, to lower interest rates on loans to hog farmers to the same level as loans to other farmers.
Doug Ahrens, director from Perth County, says “it’s not fair” that hog farmers are being charged about 2.5 per cent more than others, including highly-leveraged dairy farmers.

The interest rate challenge is one of about five goals the directors have set as their highest priority issues for this year, Ahrens told the annual meeting of the Waterloo Pork Producers Association held recently at Linwood.

He said in conversation with a reporter that Farm Credit Canada is making loans to dairy farmers on the basis of cash flow, not assets such as land, quota and buildings.

The assets are, however, usually pledged as security.