Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is growing its commitment to help young people get started in farming.

FCC has added $500 million to its Young Farmer Loan program, which will make a total of $2 billion available to young farmers across the country.

"The loan can be used for any agricultural purpose," explains Lindsay Folk, FCC's director of pricing and products. "It's probably used most often to buy land, but it can also be used land and buildings and equipment, and we would just be taking the land for security."

The loan is geared toward young producers under the age of 40 looking to borrow a maximum of $500,000. Folk says the loan also comes at a preferred interest rate with no processing fees.

"We would have them apply just like any other application — perhaps they would go into one of our local FCC offices — and we would sit down with them and have a discussion about what their business plans are, what their ideas are, talk to them in terms of the kinds of down payments that they would be putting on it... and really hear about what their plans are for their career in agriculture," Folk says.

Folk says since 2012, FCC has loaned about $600 million to producers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba under the Young Farmer Loan program.