We are one of 36 administrators of the federal government's advance payments program. CCGA is by far the largest, doing over 60% of the dollar value.
There have been delays. We weren't prepared for the new creditworthiness measures that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada put in place for April 1, 2020. We were not in a place to deal with those new creditworthiness measures as well as relocating our 65 staff to work remotely. We've heard in other conversations the fact that some of our staff live in rural Canada, based outside Winnipeg. Dealing with one or the other would have been certainly manageable. Dealing with both was very difficult.
We are now in a position that by next week we will be able to return to our normal business turnaround times, which is between three to five business days.
To date, we've issued over 3,000 advances, for $400 million.
We're not the only advance administrator, but as the largest one, we take that responsibility very seriously. We've been in constant communication with our farmer customers and have successfully renegotiated with AAFC twice, as far as loosening some of that red tape is concerned to allow our front-line staff to get the advance payments to farmers in a timely manner.