Farmland Financing
The Farmland Financing Program is available to support eligible farmers; new and expanding or those involved in farmland succession within Prince Edward Island.
Offered by Finance PEI
Amount
Acreage Acquisition Loan Program: Stream 1 – term loan financing up to 100% of the purchase price for up to 150 acres of farmland; Stream 2 – term loan financing up to 80% of the purchase price for up to 450 acres of farmland. Young Farmers Low-Interest Loan Program: individual loans capped at $1 million.
Quick eligibility check
Who can apply
For an applicant to be eligible for assistance, the following criteria must be met:
- Be a Canadian citizen and a permanent resident of PEI;
- Have an acceptable combination of five years of post-secondary education in agriculture and/or work experience in a farming operation;
- A business plan prepared by a qualified chartered accountant that includes:
- Income tax returns that demonstrate annual sales of at least $15,000 from agricultural commodities for farming operations expansions or succession planning
- New entrant must also include cash flow projections to indicate the following:
- required annual sales of $15,000 from agricultural commodities will be met,
- adequate debt servicing to support the proposed land purchase
- A valid environmental farm plan and soil conservation plan for the farmland being purchased;
- Land being financed must be available to be taken as a first charge against the loan;
- Shareholder(s) must provide a personal guarantee; and,
- A satisfactory credit rating and must not have outstanding debt obligations on file in the Province’s Central Default Registry.
About the funding
Finance PEI provides two financing programs (Acreage Acquisition Loan and Young Farmers Low-Interest Loan) to support the agriculture sector. Of these programs, a farmer is eligible to apply only under one.
Acreage Acquisition Loan Program
The Acreage Acquisition Loan Program has two streams.
Stream 1: For farmers looking to acquire up to 150 acres of farmland, they are able to access term loan financing up to 100% of the purchase price at a fixed interest rate of 6% over a five-year term, with blended principal and interest payments.
Show all funding details
Stream 2: For farmland acquisitions of up to up to 450 acres of farmland, farmers are eligible for term loans financing up to 80% of the purchase price of the acreage, with either:
- interest-only payments for a five-year period at the prevailing interest rate, or
- a fixed interest rate of 6%, over a five-year term, with blended principal and interest payments
Young Farmers Low-interest Loan Program
This funding program aims to help new entry or farmland succession applicant between the ages of 18-39 access low interest financing for farming infrastructure
Individual loans to be capped at $1 million, at a fixed rate of 3% for an initial five-year term, amortized over a 20-year period
Financing is eligible on farmland only; woodland, barns or other structures or equipment are excluded.
To support logistical operations, this stream will include financing on barns and other structures if the applicant can prove that the structures will directly help with the operation of the farm
Similar programs
| Program | Type | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCC Financing Food and Beverage | Loan | No fixed amount | Open |
| Business Development Program (BDP) | Loan | Interest-free, unsecured repayable funding of up to 50% of the capital needed to grow or launch a business | Open |
| BDC Business purchase or transfer loan | Loan | No fixed amount | Open |
| BDC Growth & Transition Capital: Buying a Business | Loan | Financing from $250,000 to $35M, repaid over 3 to 8 years, with capital payments postponed for the first 12 months | Open |
