Federal Government Makes CEBA More Accessible for Family Farms

Businesses that have been operating out of a non-business banking account will now have access to the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA).

Many farms and ranches are in this situation. As family-owned businesses, they often integrate their business and personal banking accounts. To qualify for CEBA, such businesses need to have been operating as of March 1, 2020, and will have to open a separate business banking account.

CEBA is an interest-free loan to a maximum of $40,000. If it is repaid within a prescribed time, $10,000 of the original amount is forgivable—it will not need to be repaid. The government announced on October 9 that the maximum will be raised to $60,000, with up to $20,000 forgivable.

Those larger loans will be available soon, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

“This is something that we, and a lot of agriculture organizations, have been asking for,” said SSGA president Kelcy Elford. “It’s a worthwhile program, and it wasn’t fair to family farms that their eligibility would be denied based on a banking technicality.”

The new eligibility criteria will add to the 85,000 farm businesses that already have access to the CEBA funding, which totals $5.1 billion—up to $1.7 billion of which is forgivable. “We strongly encourage farmers and food businesses who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to take advantage of the generous terms offered by the CEBA loans,” Bibeau said.

CEBA is available at more than 200 financial institutions (banks and credit unions). To access this financing, businesses and non-profit organizations will be required to provide an attestation to the serious impact of COVID-19 on their operations.

The extended deadline to apply for CEBA is December 31, 2020.

Further details on the additional financing will be announced soon. B

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