In just a few weeks, the number of agricultural businesses in difficulty has increased from 712 to more than 1,100 in Quebec, said Thursday the Minister of Agriculture, André Lamontagne.
He announced $100 million in working capital loan guarantees to help hard-pressed producers. At his side, the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) has indicated that it will now put pressure on the federal government to obtain additional financial support.
On April 27, the Minister stated in a parliamentary committee that 712 agricultural businesses were facing serious financial problems. At a press conference Thursday in Quebec, this number had swelled: he said that there would be “potentially 1,100 companies that would raise their hands” to benefit from this aid “as we speak”, to use his words.
“We did a lot, a lot of analysis of figures,” justified Mr. Lamontagne to explain such an increase in companies that are struggling. It is in particular the inflationary context, the rise in interest rates, the cost of fuels and all the inputs that ends up strangling agricultural producers, it was listed.
The minister declined to elaborate on whether pork producers account for many of these troubled businesses. The current bad situation for pork is a “parallel file”, according to him. “There is really a restructuring that is underway,” he said.
The loan guarantee that farmers will be able to benefit from is offered without repayment of principal and interest for the first three years. The repayment can be spread over 10 years. Satisfied with the support of the Legault government, the president of the UPA, Martin Caron, said that he would now “call on the federal government” to provide emergency aid to Quebec farmers.
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