Orange lender expands to boost drought aid for struggling farmers

The Regional Investment Corporation, Orange's government-backed lending body, is embarking on its most significant expansion since launching five years ago, adding nearly a third to its workforce and promising faster, more direct support for farmers struggling with drought, floods and other disasters across regional Australia.

The expansion—adding 27 specialist positions to the current 70-strong team—represents a fundamental shift in how the organisation operates, bringing loan processing, customer service, and management functions entirely in-house for the first time. For farmers in the Central West and beyond, it signals a tangible commitment to better access and speedier decision-making in their time of need.

"We'll be managing the lot ourselves, and they will be dealing with the RIC for every stage," Chief Executive Officer John Howard said, highlighting the end-to-end shift that will eliminate handoffs to external contractors. The organisation is establishing its own contact centre and loan management system as part of the restructure.

The RIC's current track record speaks to the scale of regional hardship. Since its inception, the organisation has approved more than 2,910 loans totalling over $3.15 billion—money flowing to farmers grappling with the cumulative toll of natural disasters, biosecurity threats, and volatile commodity markets.

For Orange and the Central West, the expansion carries particular weight. Two-thirds of the existing workforce is already rooted here, and the organisation is doubling down on that regional presence. Ms Gregory, the program delivery executive director, emphasised that the RIC would continue to recruit locally. "One of the things we've found really important is having a workforce with great affinity with the farmers and the farming community we're dealing with," Mr Howard noted, underlining why staffing decisions matter beyond the bottom line.

The timing reflects the urgency facing regional communities. While some areas have recovered from earlier droughts, the lingering financial strain on farming families remains acute. A lender that can move faster, that understands local conditions, and that manages loans through to their full 10-year term—rather than handing off to another organisation midway—stands to make a real difference.

The recruitment drive opens opportunities across customer services, agri-lending, IT, finance, and systems management. Notably, the RIC is advertising positions both at its Orange headquarters and across Australia via remote and hybrid arrangements—a nod to the difficulty of attracting specialist talent to regional centres.

Ms Gregory laid out the customer-facing benefit plainly: "When an application comes in, we do an assessment, handle all the loan documentation, disperse and settle the loan, and then manage it for the rest of the 10-year term." Under the old model, that seamless journey was fractured. The new in-house operation promises continuity and, critically, faster turnarounds when a farmer's window for action is narrow.

For the Central West farming community, the real measure of success will come in the months ahead: whether application decisions arrive quicker, whether the contact centre truly understands rural finance, and whether the expanded team can sustain the RIC's regional character as it grows. If the organisation lives up to its stated ambitions, it could redefine what rapid-response rural lending looks like.