Patronage Allocation Program
As a cooperative, Great Plains Ag Credit supports the cooperative principle of sharing our success with our stockholder-owners in the form of patronage. Patronage is one of the distinct advantages of doing business with a cooperative because it defrays interest costs.
Every year, after the board of directors decides how much of the association's earnings need to be maintained as capital to fund the association's growth, we are able to return the remainder as a patronage refund to our borrowers.
This year, our board of directors was extremely pleased to declare a $3.64 million patronage to customers based on 2007 earnings.
The amount, which was a combination of cash and equity allocation, was approved by the board of directors and checks were mailed to customers in April.
Patronage payments like this one are based on the amount of business a borrower does with the co-op and lower the borrowers’ effective interest rate. As a cooperative, Great Plains Ag Credit is owned by its borrower/stockholders. When the co-op performs well, it shares its earnings with the stockholders.
“We have returned more than $17 million to our borrowers since 2000, and we are pleased to continue that tradition with this year’s payment,” said Tim McDonald, Great Plains Ag Credit chief executive officer. “This payment includes not only a cash portion, but also allocated equity, which allows us to return a substantial amount of our earnings to customers while providing a solid capital base to help the association grow.”
- Contact us for more information on interest savings made possible through this program.