Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has opened a 60-day expression-of-interest process for a C$1 billion Agri-food Project Finance initiative aimed at large, construction-ready food processing and manufacturing projects, one of the biggest targeted investments in Canadian processing capacity in years.

The programme sits inside the federal government's National Food Security Strategy. Its argument is a familiar one in Canadian agriculture: a large share of what farms produce leaves the country for processing and comes back as finished food, and that gap is lost value, lost investment and lost jobs. Building domestic capacity, Ottawa says, also makes the supply chain less dependent on foreign plants.

FCC says big processing projects often struggle to raise money through conventional channels because of their scale, complexity or capital needs, and the new fund is a specialised debt-financing vehicle for exactly that kind of infrastructure. The lender will use market intelligence and supply-chain relationships to pick projects that benefit producers, processors and consumers.

"Canada's agriculture and food industry has a unique opportunity to meet growing demand both at home and internationally," said Justine Hendricks, FCC's president and chief executive. Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald linked the fund to the previously announced C$150 million for Velocity Agri-Capital Partners and said the food system must serve Canadians while staying globally competitive.

The initial window lets FCC gauge interest and identify projects that fit; organisations with significant processing or manufacturing proposals are asked to submit project information through the programme's website, and FCC says further opportunities may be considered as the programme develops.

Photo: Nhl4hamilton / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: Farms.com