Drought Loan
Help to prepare for, manage through, and recover from drought.
Purpose
Help to prepare for, manage through, and recover from drought.
Use this loan to:
-
Prepare for drought
Prepare for future droughts through measures including water efficiency techniques, accumulating feed reserves.
-
Fund drought management activities
Pay outstanding bills, pay for fodder or carting of water for livestock or produce.
-
Fund drought recovery activities
Contribute to the cost of drought recovery activities including planting and/or restocking (when seasonal conditions allow).
-
Refinance debt
Refinance certain existing debt at our low interest rate to improve cash flow.
Loan terms
$2m
Maximum amount
5.18%
Variable rate*
10
Year term
5
Years interest only
$0
Extra repayments
$0
Application Fee
$0
Early payout fee
No
Redraw
Percentage of total debt
At least 50% of your total debt must stay with a commercial lender.
Frequency of repayments
Tailored to the cash flow of the farm business.
Repayment structure
First 5 years interest only, then principal and interest for remainder of the 10 year term.
After 10 years, you can refinance any remaining balance with a commercial lender.
Full terms and conditions are available in the loan guidelines.
*Interest rate effective from August 2024 to January 2025.
Drought Loan information webinar
Watch a replay of our latest information webinar to learn how a RIC Drought Loan can support eligible farm businesses during challenging times.
Eligibility
Take our quick quiz to help discover if a RIC loan is right for you.
Take our Drought loan quick quiz
You
- are an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- contribute or plan to contribute at least 75% of your labour to the farm business(under normal circumstances)
- earn or plan to earn at least 50% of your income from the farm business (under normal circumstances)
- own or lease land and use it for farming purposes (includes agistment)
Your business
- is in financial need of a loan
- has the capacity to repay the loan
- is financially viable in the long term
- has existing commercial debt
- is in the agriculture, horticulture, pastoral, beekeeping (apiculture), or aquaculture industry
- undertakes all primary production aspects of the business wholly within Australia
- is registered for tax purposes in Australia with an ABN and is registered for GST
- operates as a sole trader, trust, partnership or private company
- is not under external administration or bankruptcy
You must
- have a drought management plan
- provide security for the loan
- secure the support of your commercial lender for the proposed loan
- repay the loan
You cannot use this loan for
- purchase of private and domestic assets
- payment of private and domestic expenses
- purchase of and/or investment in non-farm assets and payment of non-farm expenses
- paying out dividends
- reimbursement for depreciation of assets tax or other statutory payments
- your own labour costs
- anything that you have already received government funding for (except to refinance debt from previous concessional loans)
- any other non-eligible use listed in the loan guidelines
Eligible industries
The eligible primary production activities undertaken by a farm business to access RIC’s Farm Business loans, are those listed as part of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (Revision 2.0) codes for agriculture and aquaculture, with some exceptions.
View the details of primary production activities identified in DIVISION A – AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING of the industry classifications.
Before you apply
You need to check
- you can meet the loan eligibility criteria
- you understand the terms of the loan
- you have read the detail in the loan guidelines
- you have informed your commercial lender you plan to apply for a RIC loan
- take our quick quiz to help determine if a RIC loan is right for you
You need to have
- a drought management plan
- Australian Business Number (ABN)
- financial history
- identity documents
- proof of your eligibility
- your business cash flow budget
Ask us a question
We are here to help.
Contact us to ask any questions.
Apply
There are two ways to apply for a Drought Loan.
We encourage you to apply online.
You may need to contact your trusted financial advisor to help you complete your application.
- Download the document checklist from the resources section to ensure you submit a complete application.
- The online form has mandatory fields and documents. You must supply this information to progress to the next stage of the form.
- You must submit all required information so we can start assessing your application and provide an outcome as quickly as possible.
- Once you begin you will have 45 days to submit your online loan application. You will receive a reminder at 10, 20, 30, and 45 days.
- Download the application form from the resources section.
- We can’t start assessing your application until we get all the information we ask for, including attachments.
- Submit your application to info@ric.gov.au or post to:
Regional Investment Corporation, PO Box 653, Orange, NSW, 2800.
Resources
Guidelines
We will assess your application against the criteria in the loan.
Read the detail on who can apply for a loan and what happens after you apply.
Document checklist
If applying online, follow the document checklist to ensure you submit a complete application.
Application form
Complete this form on your computer or print and fill it in by hand.
- Right click on the link and select 'save target as' or 'save link as' to download the form.
- Open the form using Acrobat Reader. Download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.
- Save the application form regularly as you are filling it in.
- The form will not work when opened in a web browser or other software, e.g. Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, Preview.
Drought management plan
You must include a drought management plan with your application.
Your plan must outline how you will use the loan to prepare for, manage through or recover from drought.
You can either:
- attach your own plan to your application
- use the template included in the application form
- use the standalone template
Statement of Position template
Use the Excel template below to generate a Statement of Position to support your loan application.
Cash flow budget
You must include your business cash flow budget with your application.
We will use this to help assess your financial position, and your ability to repay the loan.
If you do not have your own budget spreadsheet, you can use our template.
Note: This template may not meet government accessibility requirements. Contact us for help.
Statutory declaration
You may need to make a statutory declaration to support your application.
Guidelines
We will assess your application against the criteria in the loan.
Read the detail on who can apply for a loan and what happens after you apply.
Document checklist
If applying online, follow the document checklist to ensure you submit a complete application.
Application form
Complete this form on your computer or print and fill it in by hand.
- Right click on the link and select 'save target as' or 'save link as' to download the form.
- Open the form using Acrobat Reader. Download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.
- Save the application form regularly as you are filling it in.
- The form will not work when opened in a web browser or other software, e.g. Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, Preview.
Drought management plan
You must include a drought management plan with your application.
Your plan must outline how you will use the loan to prepare for, manage through or recover from drought.
You can either:
- attach your own plan to your application
- use the template included in the application form
- use the standalone template
Statement of Position template
Use the Excel template below to generate a Statement of Position to support your loan application.
Cash flow budget
You must include your business cash flow budget with your application.
We will use this to help assess your financial position, and your ability to repay the loan.
If you do not have your own budget spreadsheet, you can use our template.
Note: This template may not meet government accessibility requirements. Contact us for help.
Statutory declaration
You may need to make a statutory declaration to support your application.
Help and support
Contact us if you have any questions.
