Program Objective

1. The advance program is designed to assist eligible farm businesses by giving them access to short-term liquidities via a repayable advance.

General Provisions

2. La Financière agricole can advance, to eligible producers and according to the terms it sets, a repayable sum of up to 40% of the contributions calculated in the producer's file, as of November 30, 2012, for the 2011 insurance year for animal productions and the 2010-2011 insurance year for plant productions, for the producer's participation in the Farm Income Stabilization Insurance Program (ASRA). This advance cannot exceed $40,000, however.

Note that for the purposes of calculating the maximum amount of the advance, La Financière agricole considers all advances received by a producer under this program.

3. To be eligible for the advance, the producer must:

• have participated in ASRA and have, for the 2011 insurance year for animal productions or for 2010-2011 for plant productions, a volume that is insurable under the program;
  
  
• have obtained and given La Financière agricole confirmation that the farm business meets the eligibility criteria of the ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation du Québec's Adaptation Support Strategy;
  
  or
  
  be recognized as being eligible for Abitibi-Témiscamingue's Programme régional de soutien au développement de l'agriculture and have earned at least 50% of the farm income from productions covered by the ASRA program;
  
  
• present the financial statements available on the date of the application;
  
  
• have repaid, to La Financière agricole, any amounts that may have been overpaid following a reduction in the compensation rate for its productions insured prior to the application date;
  
  
• abide by the environmental legislation and regulations concerning the phosphorus report;
  
  
• not be subject to collection operations by La Financière agricole or any other creditor;
  
  
• if registered for the mediation service under the Loi sur la médiation en matière d'endettement agricole, be able, at the end of the mediation process and according to La Financière agricole's decision, meet its financial obligations in the medium term;
  
  
• by the latest May 31, 2013, fill out and produce an application on the form provided for this purpose.
  

4. The producer must repay the advance granted by La Financière agricole, which bears no interest before maturity, in four equal and consecutive installments due on March 31 of each year, starting on March 31, 2014.
 
However, La Financière agricole reserves the right to withhold, according to the terms it sets, from the amounts payable to the producer under the programs it administers, the annual repayable amount and apply it to repaying the advance.

5. Moreover, the advance paid to the producer becomes fully payable in any of the following cases:

• The producer no longer has protection under the ASRA program;
  
  
• The annual payable amount is not paid in full by the end of the financial year following a notice by La Financière agricole;
  
  
• After March 31, 2017.
  

Other Provisions

6. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of Section 3 of this program, the producer, who meets the other eligibility criteria set out therein, is deemed to have participated in the ASRA program and to have, at the end of this program, an insurable volume for the 2011 insurance year for animal productions or 2010-2011 for plant productions, determined based on the insurable volume of the business that gave the producer its rights subject to a transfer of stabilization insurance protection.

7. For loans granted under this program before December 10, 2012, the dates of the first installment and the eligibility of the advance are those set out in sections 4 and 5 of this program.

Request for Review

All requests for the review of a final decision rendered concerning the producer's file must be in writing, specifying the reasons justifying the review, and must be sent to the service centre in charge of the file or handed to a La Financière agricole advisor within ninety (90) days of the date the contested decision was rendered.

Under no circumstances can this program summary prevail over the provisions set out in the program or in any of La Financière agricole's policies.