RIC (Regional Investment Corporation) CEO, John Howard joined Federal Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins today at the property of RIC farm loan customer in South Australia to welcome the Australian Government response to the RIC Act review and announce new loans to support farmers and producers facing hardship from drought and slow-onset significant ecological events.
Mr Howard welcomed today's announcement that further strengthens the Government's commitment to RIC, including an additional $1 billion in new loan funding to ensure farmers and producers can continue to access low-interest loans.
"We are pleased to work alongside the Government and welcome the opportunity to offer a broader loan product offering to support Australian farmers and producers, that also includes the recent announcement of another loan product to help improve climate resilience, boost sector productivity and supporting agriculture to be part of Australia's net zero transition" Mr Howard said.
"Drought loans are the cornerstone of our RIC low-cost loan portfolio and today's announcement of the new Drought Hardship Loan and the Marine Algal Bloom and Heatwave Loan is a welcome extension of the work we are already delivering every day to help farmers faced with tough times," he said.
"We are ready to meet these new Government requirements and excited to deliver on this next phase of RIC, continuing to support eligible Australian farm businesses, aquaculture and wild-catch businesses facing challenging financial times to recover and build resilience.
"Now more than 7 years on, RIC has matured through our experiences with more than 3500 loans approved valued at over $3.74 billion for Australian farmers.
"Through our transformation program delivered over two years ago, RIC has full accountability for the end-to-end customer delivery experience in house by the RIC team. From awareness to application, assessment, decisioning, settlement and beyond, we have built credibility and capability and are here to continue to make a valuable difference," he said.
South Australian grape and fruit producer, Yiannis Fragos shared his experiences on how a RIC loan has helped him.
"Utilising savings from the RIC low interest loan, I am investing in modern agricultural technology to enhance productivity and sustainability such as new data analytics, precision farming equipment to optimise soil health, leading to better yields and resource management," Mr Fragos said.
Mr Howard said: "We are immensely proud of the important work of our RIC team to deliver concessional loans to help farmers like Yiannis. Working in collaboration with the Government, industry groups, commercial lenders and our valued customers we remain committed to strengthening Australian agriculture and Australian regional communities."
Learn more about RIC loans as part of a broad support package available from the Australian and State governments to help affected businesses.
