Farm Credit Canada (FCC; known as Farm Credit Corporation until 2001) is

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's largest agricultural term lender. This organization's purpose is to enhance rural Canada by providing specialized and personalized financial services to farming operations, including

family farm A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family; it is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance. Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...

s. Although once exclusively a farm lender, FCC is now also organized to provide funding to enterprises that are closely related or dependent on farming. Its small and medium business focus is shown by its average loan disbursement of $163,649 (as of March 2014).

History and governance

FCC was established in 1959, under the ''Farm Credit Act'', at that time solely to provide loans to farmers. It succeeded the Canadian Farm Loan Board, which had been in operation since 1929. On April 2, 1993, Parliament passed the Farm Credit Corporation Act which then allowed the organization to expand beyond straightforward farm loans – to finance on-farm

diversification Diversification may refer to: Biology and agriculture * Genetic divergence, emergence of subpopulations that have accumulated independent genetic changes * Agricultural diversification involves the re-allocation of some of a farm's resources to n ...

projects and value-added agricultural operations beyond the "farm gate". In June 2001, the Farm Credit Canada Act changed FCC's name to Farm Credit Canada or Financement agricole Canada (FAC) in French. In October 2008, Farm Credit Canada was named one of

Canada's Top 100 Employers Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual editorial competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working conditions ...

by Mediacorp Canada Inc, and was featured in ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...

newsmagazine. Later that month, Farm Credit Canada was named one of Saskatchewan's Top Employers'', which was announced by the Saskatoon ''

StarPhoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...

'' and ''

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Li ...

'' newspapers. In December 2008, Farm Credit Canada was named one of ''

Report on Business ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it f ...

Magazines Top 50 Employers in Canada featured in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' newspaper.

Structure and functions

FCC is one of Canada's many

Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

s; they report to the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

through the

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food The minister of agriculture and agri-food (french: ministre de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Foo ...

. The corporation's board consists of up to 12 members, all appointed choices that require the approval of the governor-in-council. This control board regularly meets in the corporation's head office, which is located in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. FCC has over 1700 employees, and six regional offices and more than 100 field and district offices across the country, primarily in rural Canada (as of March 2014). FCC can fund and deliver joint programs and services with federal agencies,

provincial government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

s and other term lenders. FCC’s operations are funded primarily through FCC Bond offerings, structured notes, institutional short-term notes, long-term programs and institutional debt. It raises money on the domestic and international markets. The product portfolio for FCC includes a variety of intermediate and long-term loans, with

amortization Amortization or amortisation may refer to: * The process by which loan principal decreases over the life of an amortizing loan * Amortization (accounting), the expensing of acquisition cost minus the residual value of intangible assets in a system ...

periods as long as 29 years. As of March 2014, the corporation had a loan portfolio of 149,130 loans, with a total value of $26,205 million. As per the FCC annual report 2019-20, the total value of the corporation's loan portfolio is $38.6 billion.https://www.fcc-fac.ca/fcc/about-fcc/reports/ar-ra-2019-20-e.pdf

References

External links

FCC Home Page (bilingual)
{{authority control Financial services companies established in 1959 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Canadian federal Crown corporations Agriculture in Canada Organizations based in Regina, Saskatchewan Agricultural finance Federal departments and agencies of Canada