FOSTORIA – Ag Credit, a member-owned Ohio cooperative, had record net earnings of $42.4 million during
2013.
This was an increase of $14.6 million over the Association’s earnings in 2012. Ag Credit CEO and
President, Brian Ricker, attributes much of the increase in earnings to a one-time special distribution
of patronage from Ag Credit’s funding bank, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank. "These funds demonstrate the
rewards of cooperative membership and show how the success of our funding bank can help all Ag Credit
members," said Ricker.
"Building and maintaining lifetime relationships for the success of both our members and our
employees is part of our mission at Ag Credit. Our mission is also to be a cooperative lender who
returns profits to its borrowers. This is demonstrated with our record profit-sharing dividend in
2013," Ricker added.
In April, the Association will distribute $23.7 million in total patronage refunds to members. This
includes the added one-time bonus patronage as a result of AgFirst’s special distribution.
Dividends are being paid in a combination of cash and allocated equities. Over 6,000 checks will be
distributed to farmers and other borrowers in Northwest and North Central Ohio.
Ag Credit has averaged over 28 percent return for the past five years and has paid patronage for 27
consecutive years totaling more than $189 million to borrowers.
The refunds amount to 40 cents on every dollar of loan interest accrued last year. With the cooperative’s
average rate of 4.7 percent, this effectively reduced a typical borrower’s interest for 2013 to 2.8
percent.