Drought loans for farm businesses
Drought Loans provide concessional loans through the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC) to help eligible Australian farm businesses prepare for, manage through and recover from drought.
Loans may be used for on-farm drought preparedness, drought management and recovery activities, refinancing certain existing debt, operating expenses or capital and to enhance productivity.
You must:
- be 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)
- have a drought management plan
- provide security for the loan
- secure the support of your commercial lender for the proposed loan
- and repay the loan
Additionally, your farm business must:
- be in financial need of a loan
- have the capacity to repay the loan
- be financially viable in the long term
- have existing commercial debt
- be in the agriculture, horticulture, pastoral, beekeeping (apiculture), or aquaculture industry
- undertake all primary production aspects of the business wholly within Australia
- be registered for tax purposes in Australia with an Australian business number (ABN) and be registered for goods and services tax (GST)
- operate as a sole trader, trust, partnership or private company
- and not be under external administration or bankruptcy
You must also show significant financial impact over two consecutive years (two years' retrospective loss, one year loss and one year forecast, or two years' forecast loss) and may apply up to five years after drought.
Get a personalised eligibility check — your match score, which criteria you meet, and what to watch out for.
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Last updated: 12 February 2026