Ontario Farmers who are holding loans backed by the Commodity Loan Guarantee Program now have to Sept. 30 to pay them off.
They were facing a deadline of the end of this month until Ontario Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman announced the change this week.
"During consultations on the Commodity Loan Guarantee Program, we heard consistently that longer repayment periods and having overlapping loans would be helpful to farmers," Hardeman said.
The program's maximum guaranteed loan limit is also being permanently increased from $120 to $200 million.
Brendan Byrne, chair of the Grain Farmers of Ontario, called them “welcome change.”
Jaye Atkins, chief executive officer for the Agriculture Credit Corporation, said "this will expand the producer's marketing window to ensure the best possible prices are obtained while assisting with producer cashflow requirements."
