FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Cape Fear Farm Credit Board of Directors declares a $20 million cash patronage to be distributed back to their customer-owners in early 2020. Including this patronage distribution, the Association will have paid over $276 million dollars in patronage to their customer-owners over the past 32 consecutive years.
As a cooperative, profits are distributed back to its customer-owners, known as a patronage refund. This year’s $20 million patronage is the largest dollar amount patronage distribution in a 32-year history, which will effectively reduce the average interest rate paid by their borrowers by approximately 2.20 percent.
“We are passionate about serving our customer-owners and we are proud to declare a $20 million record patronage for 2019 ” states Jon Pope, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Having the ability to deliver such strong levels of patronage is a reinforcement of the value our cooperative delivers to agriculture and the rural communities we serve. Our Board and Management team remains committed to keeping the Association financially strong and well positioned to continue to serve all of agriculture for generations to come.”
“The Association continues to perform well and we are eager to return this record patronage dividend to our customer-owners as soon as possible,” adds Evan Kleinhans, Chief Executive Officer. “Rather than having our patronage distribution in April, we will distribute patronage earlier. We are currently targeting late February or early March of 2020”.
About Cape Fear Farm Credit
Cape Fear Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by its customer-owners. It provides loans for land, equipment, livestock and production as well as rural home mortgages and rural living. Cape Fear Farm Credit has branches serving Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, and Scotland counties. It is part of the national Farm Credit System, a network of financial cooperatives established in 1916 to provide a dependable source of credit to farmers and rural America. To locate a branch near you, visit www.capefearfc.com or call 1.800.368.5819
–Janna Bass, Cape Fear Farm Credit