Loan for farm businesses impacted by drought

Overview

Loans are available for farm businesses to:

• pay operating costs: pay outstanding bills and manage essential day-to-day farm expenses such as wages, utilities, insurance and other administrative costs
• buy fodder and cart water: purchase fodder and cover water carting costs to support livestock and produce
• support transport needs: to cover transport costs of livestock, crops or produce. 

Check if you can apply

To be eligible, applicants must:

• be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• contribute or plan to contribute at least 75% of their labour to the farm business (under normal circumstances)
• earn or plan to earn at least 50% of their income from the farm business (under normal circumstances)
• own or lease land and use it for farming purposes (includes agistment).

Farm businesses must:

• be in financial need of a loan
• have been in drought for at least 24 months and are expecting to be financially impacted by drought for at least the next 12 months
• have the capacity to repay the loan
• be financially viable in the long term
• have existing commercial debt
• be an eligible industry such as agriculture, horticulture, pastoral, beekeeping (apiculture), or aquaculture industry
• undertake all primary production aspects of the business wholly within Australia
• be registered for tax purposes in Australia with an Australian business number (ABN) and be registered for goods and services tax (GST)
• operate as a sole trader, trust, partnership or private company
• not be subject to external administration or bankruptcy
• have one member of the farm business as an Australian citizen or a permanent resident such as, a sole trader, a partner or a company director.
• have a drought management plan.