Beefing up access to capital for livestock producers

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Vauxhall Advance

Alberta Government

Alberta’s government is working to ensure the province’s cattle sector can continue to grow and remain competitive.

Beef is Alberta’s biggest agri-food export and raising loan limits will help ensure the province’s cattle producers are able to continue producing the world’s best beef.

Amendments to the Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation give feeder association members more options to purchase and market livestock and to generate better cash flow for their operations.

The changes raise individual and joint membership loan limits, excluding advances, to $3 million from $2 million.

“Feeder associations are an essential part of Alberta’s livestock industry and are a proven way to support new entrants in primary agriculture. These amendments ensure thousands of producers across the province have access to the capital they need to keep producing Alberta’s world-renowned beef,” said RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.

Cattle prices have increased 25 per cent since the start of the year and are expected to keep rising. Alberta’s livestock producers are in greater need of easily accessible, low-interest capital backed by a government guarantee.

Made up of local livestock producers, feeder associations take in cattle and sheep and feed them to get them to market weight before shipping them for processing.

Alberta’s Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee Program helps local, producer-run cooperatives get competitive financing to ensure they can continue being a player in the global market.

“These changes will help to ensure continued sustainable growth in Alberta’s livestock feeding sector, providing much-needed support to our existing feeder members while making this capital-intensive business more viable and accessible to new entrants and young farmers in the current market environment,” said Philipp Lammerding, chair, Feeder Associations of Alberta Ltd.

These amendments follow last fall’s Feeder Associations Guarantee Program’s overall loan guarantee limit increase to $150 million.

Alberta is home to 45 feeder associations, with about 2,100 total members. Feeder associations range in size from three to 200 members.