MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — During AgChoice Farm Credit’s 20th patronage refund anniversary, the cooperative announced that it will payout $32.6 million in cash to eligible customer-owners. The largest patronage distribution in AgChoice’s history, customer-owners will receive their checks in early April.
“In these challenging economic times for agriculture, the Board of Directors decided to maximize the patronage payout and its impact in our local businesses, farms and families,” said Shawn Wolfinger, AgChoice Board of Directors Chairman and customer-owner. “With strong earnings from a diverse loan portfolio and extra patronage from our funding bank, we hope patronage checks will provide a boost to customer-owners who need it most.”
Patronage has been an integral part of AgChoice’s cooperative business model since the organization formed in 1999. The model allows AgChoice to build capital, invest in member services, share profits and lower the overall cost of borrowing to customer-owners. Annual cash payouts to customer-owners since 1999, including this year, total $312.6 million.
This year’s patronage program returns $0.40 for every $1.00 borrowers paid in interest on their AgChoice loans in 2018. For the average borrower, it lowers their effective interest rate by 2.25%.
In addition to lending, AgChoice offers business services and educational programs aligned with its Shared Purpose: Inspiring Growth in Our Families, Businesses and Rural Communities.
Business services offered include farm succession and transition planning, dairy benchmarking, appraisals, business consulting, tax planning and preparation, record keeping, crop insurance products and many other accounting and risk management services.
The AgChoice Knowledge Center serves as a hub of information and educational resources for the agricultural industry. AgChoice collaborates with industry allies to offer programs and tools that help farmers be successful and grow Pennsylvania agriculture.
AgChoice Farm Credit is an Agricultural Credit Association with more than $2 billion in gross loan assets. Through 10 branch offices, it provides financial services to more than 10,000 customer in 52 counties in central, western and northern Pennsylvania as well as four counties in West Virginia. To learn more about AgChoice Farm Credit and its financial programs, visit www.agchoice.com.
–AgChoice Farm Credit