The Nova Scotia Beef Interest Pay-Down Program will provide assistance to Nova Scotia beef producers to pay down loan interest for 2011. The interest pay down will support the beef industry in the short term and provide transitional funding to ensure producers remain viable. Financial Institutions will hold the liability for the loans and the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) will facilitate the payment of the interest for those loans.

The program is delivered through the NSFA. You can visit the office at the address below or call the NSFA by phone at 902-893-2293 or download the application form from this website.

To be eligible you must meet the following for the duration of the program:

• Loan must support the production of beef;
• Must be a NS registered farm and be a levy paying producer with the Nova Scotia Cattle Producers;
• Must be an active beef producer and have been farming at least 6 months and;
• One submission per individual will be accepted per financial institution.

The eligibility of loans will be assessed by the NSFA and will include operating loans, working loans, short term and intermediate loans secured by a financial institution. Loans that are not eligible include mortgages and long term loans (>5 years). Credit cards are not considered to be eligible loans.

The APP is an eligible loan. The Beef Interest Pay-Down loan will only cover any interest amount charged above the $100,000 amount to the limit of the program.

A financial institution is any institution that lends money and that is registered as a chartered bank in Canada.

To participate, you must fill out and submit the Beef Interest Pay-Down Program application. The application can be received from the NSFA office or website. The application must be returned the NSFA before the deadline, March 31, 2012.

One submission will be accepted per individual per financial institution. If you have loans at more than one financial institution you can fill out additional applications/ claim forms, one for each financial institution.

Payment will be issued based on the interest paid and that amount identified on the application/ claim form.

The deadline to submit the 2011 claim form is March 31, 2012.

Payment will be issued to the producer after the application form and/or claim is submitted and verified. Thus payment will be made at the end of each claim period for the interest amount paid for that claim period.  Please include all financial institution paperwork with your application.

Interest will only be paid on those loans for beef production to the maximum amount of loan to $600,000 per Individual or $6.4% which
ever is the lesser amount. Applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis and payments may be pro-rated if total demand for program funds exceeds available budget allocations.

Producers will be agreeing to random audit to confirm that the operation is consistent with eligibility requirements.

No, if you receive an interest payment it will not affect payment from other programs that we support such as Farm Investment Fund, AgriInvest and AgriStability.

Yes, like other programs you have to treat the payment as income. A T4A slip will be sent to you for income tax purposes for each tax year.

Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture
332 Willow Street
Suite 201, Truro, NS
Phone:  902-893-2293
Fax:  902-893-7063