Press Releases

Previous Releases: 2010 | 2009

Ag Credit to review a good year for Ohio farmers
Rural lending co-op's annual meeting brings good news

FOSTORIA, Ohio – Ag Credit President Neil Jordan will have good news for the lender's stockholders at their annual meeting April 12 at the Wyandot County Fairgrounds.

"Despite many financial challenges and failures throughout the overall economy, our cooperative achieved another successful year in 2010," Jordan said in a letter enclosed with the checks to borrowers.

The Northwest Ohio agricultural lender is distributing a record $8.9 million in 2010 profit-sharing checks to stockholding borrowers this month as a result of the strong year. In addition to the cash payments, the cooperative is also assigning another $5.6 million of 2010's net income to Members' allocated reserve accounts. This brings the patronage total to $14.5 million representing over 27% of the interest paid to the cooperative.

At the annual meeting, agricultural business expert Dr. David Kohl will speak on the state's agricultural economy and the business concerns of Ohio farmers. Kohl, a former Virginia Tech agricultural finance professor, has conducted more than 5,000 speaking engagements and authored four books and over 1,000 articles. He currently writes for Corn and Soybean Digest and Ag Credit Leader magazine.

Stockholders will also meet four candidates for two Ag Credit board of directors seats.

Nominees to represent Paulding, Putnam, and Van Wert counties are:

• John Nomina, 59, a crop farmer in Van Wert County
• Scott Schroeder, 44, a livestock farmer in Putnam County

Nominees to represent Morrow and Crawford counties are:

• Matt Rindfuss, 37, who is a crop farmer in Crawford County
• Michael Stump, 52, a crop and dairy farmer in Crawford County

Ballots will be mailed to approximately 4,900 eligible stockholders. Votes will be tallied in May.

The annual meeting will be held in the Master's Building at the fairgrounds, 10171 State Highway 53 N., Upper Sandusky. Stockholders are asked to arrive at 6 p.m. Tickets are $3 available in advance at Ag Credit branch locations.

The media is welcome but will need to call 1-800-837-3678 for reservations.

Ag Credit borrowers celebrate record $14.5 million return

FOSTORIA, Ohio – Ag Credit, an Ohio rural lending cooperative, will distribute a record $14.5 million in profit-sharing to stockholding borrowers this month in the form of checks ($8.9 million) and allocated equities ($5.6 million).

The refunds amount to about 27 cents on every dollar of loan interest accrued last year. At an average rate of 5.29 percent, that would reduce a borrower's interest for 2010 to 3.86 percent.

Ag Credit, part of the national Farm Credit System, is a financial co-op that provides loans to farmers, agricultural businesses and rural communities. As a cooperative, Ag Credit's borrowers are its stockholders. When the cooperative earns a profit, it puts a portion back into the pockets of its stockholders. Each receives a check twice a year containing their share of annual profits.

"Profit sharing is a key part of the value proposition of our cooperative," said Ag Credit President Neil Jordan. "By focusing on sound lending and strong capital we continue to be a reliable financial partner to farmers and agricultural community in 18 Ohio counties."

"Ag Credit's profits come from a number of earnings engines," Jordan said, including interest on loans and leases, life and crop insurance, rural home loans, services, and equity earnings.

Dividends are being paid in a combination of cash and allocated equities to more than 4,800 farmers and other borrowers in Northwest and North Central Ohio.

In the past 24 years, customer-owners of Ag Credit have earned more than $138.8 million in dividends from their ownership of the cooperative.