COLUMBUS — Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel announced recently that the 2012 Agricultural Linked Deposit Program application period will begin Jan. 19 and end March 9 at 5 p.m. This will mark the 27th year that the treasurer’s linked deposit program has assisted Ohio farmers.
This will be the first year that the entire Ag-LINK program application will be completed exclusively online. The application process has been simplified and streamlined in order to take advantage of technology to administer the program and make it more user-friendly for applicants.
Criteria
In order to qualify for Ag-LINK, farms must be for-profit with their headquarters and more than half of their operations maintained in Ohio. To qualify, the farmer must apply and be approved for an operating loan or line of credit from a farm credit lender or an eligible bank.
After approval, the farmer may apply for an interest rate reduction from the Ohio Treasury’s Ag-LINK program. Applications must be received by the Treasurer’s office no later than March 9 at 5 p.m.
The timeline for the 2012 Ag-LINK program is as follows: The application period begins Jan. 19. Ag-LINK applications must be received by the Economic Development Department at the State Treasurer’s office no later than 5 p.m. March 9.
Status
Once the application process has been completed, notification of each application’s status will be sent to each lender no later than April 6. This year, the state treasurer’s office is requiring lenders to confirm acceptance or denial of the linked deposit for each application they have submitted by April 13.
This is only to confirm that your borrowers will participate in Ag-LINK. Once the application has been approved and confirmed, funding requests can be submitted beginning April 13. Funding will begin April 16 and may be requested through June 27. Requests for funding are due 24 hours prior to the funding date requested.
Detailed information on the program and eligibility requirements can be found by visiting the state treasurer’s website at www.ohiotreasurer.gov/aglink or by calling 800-228-1102, option 3.
