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

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Crown corporation Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...

and 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 ().

History and governance

FCC was established on November 12 1936, 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 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 condition ...

by Mediacorp Canada Inc, and was featured in ''

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

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. It has been referred to as a "sister newspaper" to the ''Regina Leader-Post, Leader-Post''. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out si ...

'' and ''

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper published in Regina, Saskatchewan, owned by Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenan ...

'' 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 more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it fall ...

Magazines Top 50 Employers in Canada featured in ''

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'' newspaper.

Structure and functions

FCC is one of Canada's many

s; they report to the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...

through the

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food The minister of agriculture and agri-food () is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Dairy Commission, Farm Credit C ...

. 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, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

. FCC has over 2200 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, o ...

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 syst ...

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