Fonterra is extending a helping hand to stressed out farmers, in the form of a loan.

Farmers can now apply for Fonterra Co-operative Support - to help them deal with current challenging conditions.

Chairman John Wilson says Fonterra is well placed to help its farmers because of the co-operative’s underlying strength.

He is anticipating a large number of applications.

Farmer shareholders can apply for an interest-free loan of 50 cents for every kilogram of share-backed milk solids produced from June first to December 31st this year.

The loan will be interest-free until the end of May 2017, after which Fonterra may charge interest.

Farmers can repay all or part of the loan at any time and no security is required over their shares or any other assets.

The loan will be repayable directly from milk payments, and automatic repayments will occur when Total Advance Rate Payments exceed $6.

Applications open today and close at 5pm on September 25th.