Loans to assist first time farmers or farmers looking to plan and implement succession arrangements

Agristarter Loans provide farmers with loans to either assist them in starting their own farming business or to plan for and implement succession arrangements.

Overview

There are 2 kinds of Agristarter loans:

• first farmer - loans for indivduals seeking to purchase, establish or develop a farm business in which they will hold the sole or controlling interest
• sucession - loans for farm businesses planning for, or undertaking succesion arrangements

Loans may be used to:

• buy an existing farm business
• establish a new farm business
• buy out relatives during farm business succession
• pay costs associated with the succession planning process
• pay for legal costs or stamp duty

Check if you can apply

First farmer loan applicants must:

• be seeking to purchase, establish or develop a farm business in which you hold or will holdthe sole or a controlling interest
• not have previously held the sole or a majority interest in a farm business (other than the recently acquired or established business in respect of which the loan is sought)
• have at least 3 years of relevant on-farm or equivalent experience
• intend to have the farm business as their principal business pursuit

Succession loan applicants must be one of the following:

• a farm business
• a farm business successor, that is you have recently inherited or will inherit an interest in a farm business, or have recently acquired or will acquire an interest in a farm under a succession plan
• a farm asset successor, that is you hold the sole or a controlling interest in a farm business, and have recently inherited or will inherit farm assets, or have recently acquired or will acquire farm assets under a succession plan

Individual applicants must:

• be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• contibute or plan to contribute at least 50% of their labour to the farm business
• earn or plan to earn at least 50% of their income from the farm business

Farm business applicants must:

• operate as a sole trader, partnership. a trust or a corporation
• be registered for tax purposes in Australia with an Australian business number (ABN) and is registered for goods and services tax (GST)
• have the capacity to repay the loan
• have at least one member who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident