The Rural Voice, 1983-10, Page 4The
Beginning
Farmer
Assistance
Program
Securing Ontario's Farming Future
New Financial Aid Will Support Farmers
Starting Their Own Operation
Under this new program, the Ontario government
will provide financial help to as many as 5,000 new
farmers over the next five years.
$135 million of government funding will be injected
directly into the rural Ontario economy and total
private investment will likely exceed $1 billion.
The program will help intergenerational transfer of
family farms and significantly increase the inflow of
qualified new farmers to the industry.
How the program works:
• The Ontario government will pay a direct cash
rebate for 5 years on the amount of loan interest
in excess of 8%, up to a maximum of 5 percentage
points. This interest rebate will apply on loan
amounts up to a limit of $350,000 per person.
• The loans will be administered by the FCC (Farm
Credit Corporation) and other authorized lending
institutions including the Bank of Montreal,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and the
Toronto Dominion Bank.
• The program applies to qualified loans granted on
or after May 10, 1983.
• Applicants must never have been a farmer before
(either for a majority of their time or for a majority
of their income) and never owned a viable farm,
but must have agricultural experience and/or
agricultural education.
Ministry of
FULL DETAILS CFJ Agriculture
ARE AVAILABLE and Food
from local OMAF county
offices or from lending
institutions.
ONTARIO
Dennis Timbrell
Minister
PG. 2 THE RURAL VOICE, OCTOBER 1983
FEEDBACK
Different figures
Do the OFA directors follow the
wishes of the farmers? During the
spring and summer of 1983, county
federations called meetings in each
county to get the opinion of farmers
(on the 10007o tax rebate). The vote
count of the counties 1 know of is as
follows:
Huron
Peel
Grey
Simcoe
Perth
Wellington
Halton
Parry Sound
For Against
88 Secret
2 Secret
17
12
37
35
24
230
Ballot 410
Ballot 87
132
150
43
5
7
7
841
1 asked the OFA office for more
figures if available but was answered
that a complete list available at OFA
would be far from complete. Unless
there are many more counties that
had their votes and did not record
them, how can the OFA directors
supporting the government tax rebate
proposal justify their actions. When
the above meetings voted almost four
to one against the government pro-
posal???
Tom Jackson
R.R. 4, Caledon East
The Rural Voice welcomes the views
of readers and will publish as many
letters as space permits. No unsigned
letters will be considered. Letters
should be concise and because of
space limitations, we reserve the right
to edit. Letters should be addressed
to: The Rural Voice, R. R. 1, Dungan-
non, Ontario. NOM IRO.
All grades of nuts & bolts
Westward Tools
Keto Abrasives
Epps Pressure Washers
ICScott's Industrial
& Farm Supplies
R.R. 4, Tara
519-376-0283
8 miles west of Owen Sound
off Highway 21