Farm Credit Services of America returns $160 million to area farmers

Farm Credit Services of America has announced that eligible customer-owners in 13 counties in the Panhandle of Nebraska and Southeast Wyoming will receive checks this month totaling $3,019,000 – their share of the financial cooperative’s record $160 million cash-back dividend for 2014.

FCSAmerica has distributed a portion of its net earnings to eligible customer-owners for each of the past 11 years, returning a total of nearly $1 billion in cash-back dividends to farmers, ranchers and their local communities. The share returned to customer-owners in the two local offices serving Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Goshen, Kimball, Laramie, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, and Sioux counties since 2004 amounts to nearly $24 million.

“Cash-back dividends represent a very tangible example of the power of ownership,” said Darrin Clarkson, vice president of FCSAmerica’s Scottsbluff and Alliance offices. “Our customer-owners not only receive cash-back dividends but also elect the Board of Directors, which focuses on maintaining the financial strength of the cooperative. This cash provides customers with a source of funds to invest in their businesses, communities or families.”

Each eligible customer’s cash-back dividend is based on the average loan volume during the calendar year. The more eligible loan business a customer has with the cooperative, the more they benefit financially through cash-back dividends.

The FCSAmerica Board of Directors approves each year’s cash-back distribution in December based on a number of factors, including the cooperative’s financial performance. During the 11 years that FCSAmerica has distributed cash-back dividends, net income has grown to $536.5 million from $294 million and members’ equity has increased to $4 billion from $1.5 billion.