Regional Investment Corporation: concessional loans for farm businesses

Most farm families meet the Regional Investment Corporation at a hard moment: the third dry season in a row, a market that closed overnight, or a parent ready to step back while a son or daughter takes over. RIC exists for those moments. It’s a Commonwealth lender, headquartered in Orange, NSW, that offers concessional loans to farm businesses and to the small rural firms that serve them.

RIC isn’t a substitute for your bank, though. Its rules assume a commercial lender is already in your corner, and that one detail shapes everything about how you’d use it. This profile sets out what RIC offers as at October 2026, how it decides, and where to turn if it can’t help or can’t help in time. RIC’s website was unreliable when we checked, so the product details below come from its published loan flyers and guidelines as indexed in search, cross-checked against business.gov.au.

What loans does RIC offer in 2026?

According to its website, RIC currently runs five loan programs:

Loan	Who it’s for	Published maximum	Repayment shape
Farm Investment Loan	Farm businesses recovering from a significant financial hit outside their control (drought, disaster, pests, disease, biosecurity limits, market closure) over two consecutive years	$2m	10-year term
Drought Loan	Farm businesses managing through or recovering from drought	$2m	10 years: five interest-only, then five principal and interest
AgriStarter Loan	First-time farmers and farm succession	$2m	10-year initial term, interest-only for the first five
AgBiz Drought Loan	Small businesses that directly supply goods or services to farmers in drought-affected communities	$500k	10 years: five interest-only, then five principal and interest
Drought Hardship Loan	Farm businesses in drought for at least two years that expect it to continue	$250k	Five years, no repayments for the first two (interest still accrues)

The Drought Hardship Loan is the newest. Applications opened on 31 March 2026, and the government added $1b of loan funding from 1 July 2026, which rural press reported takes RIC’s total lending capacity to $5b.

RIC loans carry a variable rate that the government reviews every six months. We don’t publish rates on this site; check RIC’s current figure directly, then work out what it means in dollars over the full term.

The rules that trip people up

Three of RIC’s published criteria catch applicants out more often than the headline amounts do.

1. You need commercial debt first. When a RIC loan is approved, the farm business must hold commercial debt at least equal to its government concessional debt. RIC’s own explainer says this means bank loans secured over farm assets and some private or family loans on commercial terms. Home loans, personal loans, working capital funding and other concessional government debt don’t count. A debt-free farm, oddly enough, may not qualify.

2. The half-and-half ceiling. Under the Farm Investment Loan guidelines, new RIC debt is limited to $2m or the amount that would bring concessional loans to half of your total debt, whichever is lower. If your bank debt is $900k, you’re looking at roughly $900k of RIC money, not $2m.

3. The $3m lifetime cap. All government concessional loans held by one farm business, past and present, can’t exceed $3m. Farms holding a Dairy Recovery Concessional Loan get a $4m ceiling.

On top of these, every applicant must show financial need and long-term viability, and RIC requires adequate security and the capacity to repay. The farm loans also expect your produce to go mainly into interstate or overseas supply chains.

If you want to test repayments before you talk to anyone, our debt service coverage ratio calculator shows how much breathing room your farm income leaves after all debt repayments.

Who RIC suits, and who it doesn’t

RIC tends to work well for:

• Established family farms with a bank facility, a few tough seasons behind them and a credible plan for the next five years.
• Next-generation farmers. AgriStarter’s first-farmer stream asks for at least three years of relevant on-farm experience, with the farm intended to be your main business. Individuals need to put in at least half their labour and earn at least half their income from it.
• Succession deals where one sibling buys out others, or the business needs to cover legal costs and stamp duty.
• Rural contractors and suppliers (harvest and fencing contractors, stock and station agents, machinery repairers) who qualify for the AgBiz Drought Loan when their farm customers are struggling.

It’s a weaker fit for:

• Any business outside agriculture and its direct supply chain. See our wider farmers business loans page for what else is available.
• Farms that need money within days. RIC is a full credit assessment with documents, viability analysis and security.
• Hobby or lifestyle blocks where the farm isn’t the main source of income.
• Borrowers who want RIC to replace an unhappy bank relationship. The commercial debt rule means a bank stays involved.

Questions to ask before you apply

1. How will security be shared with my bank? Both lenders will want a claim over farm assets. Find out early how they’ll rank and whether your bank needs to consent.
2. How big is the step-up in year six? Principal repayments start in year six on most RIC products. Model that jump now, not in year five.
3. What does the Drought Hardship Loan cost in dollars? No repayments for two years is a relief, but the interest is still building. Ask for the projected balance at the start of year three.
4. Which documents will slow me down? Financial statements, tax returns, a farm budget and debt schedules are standard. Our guide to using rural property as loan security covers how lenders view farmland.
5. How close am I to the $3m cap? Old concessional loans count toward it, even ones you’ve paid down.

Torn between RIC and a commercial lender? Give us a one-minute outline of your farm and a specialist will talk through the realistic paths, with no credit enquiry at that stage.

If RIC isn’t the answer

A RIC decline, or a RIC approval that arrives later than you need it, still leaves real options:

• Go back to your bank first. Agribusiness banking teams know your history and can often restructure or extend a facility. Rabobank specialises in farm lending, and the major banks all run agri desks. When the bank won’t move, our bank decline guide for business owners sets out the next steps.
• Machinery and vehicles: equipment finance is secured on the asset itself, and manufacturer financiers such as John Deere Financial lend against their own gear.
• Equity in land: non-bank and private lenders will look at business loans against rural property, including second mortgages behind an existing bank loan.
• Timing gaps: if you’re waiting on a RIC decision, a harvest cheque or a land sale, bridging finance can cover the gap for a set period.
• After floods, fires or storms: our page on business loans after natural disasters covers grants, insurance timing and finance together.

Other government-backed lenders profiled here include Export Finance Australia, for exporters including some agribusinesses, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which discounts farm energy and emissions upgrades through partner lenders.

Between seasons and a decision? Let’s talk it through

Concessional money is worth chasing when you fit RIC’s rules, and we’d encourage any eligible farm to apply. The trouble is that farming doesn’t wait for an assessment queue. Feed, fuel, wages and rates keep falling due while paperwork moves, and the bank may want the commercial side sorted before RIC will act.

That’s where a quick conversation helps. Our form asks a handful of questions and takes around sixty seconds. Enquiring won’t touch your credit file. We keep what you send in-house; it isn’t circulated to a dozen lenders whose calls would then flood your phone. Someone on our team reads what you’ve sent, then phones you to talk about your property, your existing debt and your timing. Give us accurate figures for land value, current loans and income, and we can point you straight to something workable.

Talk to us about your farm finance →