Farm Credit Mid-America is celebrating another large return to their customers as part of their annual patronage program.
“This year, we are really excited to announce that we are returning $255 million back into the hands of our customer-owners,” says Tara Durbin, Chief Lending Officer at Farm Credit Mid-America.
The announcement was made during the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville.
“This will be our eighth year that we’ve paid patronage, and in total we will have paid over $1.25 billion—that’s with a ‘B’.”
She says those patronage payments will be delivered to customer-owners in mid-March.
“That’s always an exciting time of year, not only for our customers, but for us as employees as well,” says Durbin. “We do a lot of hand-delivered checks to our customers, which will be distributed the week of March 18th—which coincidentally is also National Ag Week. It’s a great way that we can help showcase our appreciation for the hard-working customers that we serve.”
Durbin says that the patronage program represents one of their core values as a customer-owned cooperative.
“Part of our purpose is to secure the future or rural communities in agriculture, so through our patronage program, we’re able to return that portion of our earnings back to our customers and give them that little extra capital—especially in a time when interest rates are a little higher right now, and so that’s one way that we can really benefit our customers and give back,” says Durbin.
She adds that the patronage speaks to the success of their customers-owners.
“I give that credit back to our customers,” says Durbin. “The co-op is member-owned, so the financial strength of our organization really rests on the farmers and our customers who we’re there to support.”
The amount of patronage that customers will receive is proportionate to their level of transaction of eligible business with the cooperative during 2023.
This year’s total of $255 million is the largest return to Farm Credit Mid-America customers as part of their annual patronage program, which tops last year’s patronage total of $230 million.
Click HERE for more information about Farm Credit Mid-America’s patronage program.
