Checks with meaning: Farm Credit Patronage Week continues giving back

By Dale Minyo, Ohio Ag Net

Each spring, Farm Credit Mid-America team members across Ohio and the region have something to look forward to — not only because they get to visit customers, but because they get to return something meaningful to them. Mid-March was Patronage Week, and for Rudi Pitzer Perry, FCMA Regional Vice President of Ag Lending, it’s one of the most rewarding times of the year.

“Patronage is the name for capital that any cooperative returns to its customers,” Pitzer Perry said. “We started giving patronage back in 2017, paid for the 2016 year, so we’ve been at this nine years now.”

In that time, Farm Credit Mid-America has returned more than $1.5 billion to customer-owners across its six-state area.

“This year specifically, we’re giving back $260 million across our six-state area. Ohio gets $58 million of that,” she said. “We mentioned we’re sitting in Mount Orab — it’s going to get $1.7 million back in investment to their community members that live here.… Continue reading