Regina-based Farm Credit Canada is reporting a strong financial performance in the past year despite the pandemic.

FCC president Michael Hoffort says the FCC portfolio grew by 7.6 percent, surpassing 40 billion dollars.

“And really a lot of wonders of what the year would hold, and as things unfolded, for sure, we did see increase in the demand for credit. Some of that corresponded with the increasing commodity prices,” said Hoffart. “But by the end of the year, we had grown by 7.5 percent, and our portfolio was now $41.5 billion.”

Hoffort says there were some payment deferrals due to the pandemic, with 49 hundred customers temporarily deferring loans totalling 5.6 billion dollars.

He says net income was 812 million dollars, allowing for reinvestment in agriculture and food through new loans and services