Loans to assist first time farmers or farmers looking to plan 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