Being a member-owner of GreenStone Farm Credit Services means you receive products and services tailored to your agricultural and rural living needs, and you contribute to the core success of your cooperative. Unlike financial institutions owned by investors, GreenStone is owned by you - the people we serve which means our owners also benefit in the joint success.
On March 14, our member-owners will receive a total of $82 million in patronage, over 60 percent more than the $50 million returned in 2018. These payments represent approximately 45 percent of the total income generated by the cooperative. Life to date, since the program’s inception in 2005, a total of $400 million will have been returned to our member owners!
Throughout 2018, GreenStone held firm to its mission of supporting rural America and agriculture, providing creative solutions and resources to our members to help them manage the challenges of the current agriculture economy. These efforts, coupled with internal efficiencies and portfolio diversity providing strong overall financial performance of GreenStone, led us to end 2018 in a strong position.
As a financial cooperative, it is important for GreenStone to generate strong earnings and maintain adequate capital levels to help ensure it can be a dependable source of credit for years to come. Having GreenStone in a strong financial position allows the board of directors to approve healthy patronage payments to our members. As a result, we are returning another record-level of patronage back to our members on March 14, 2019.
“We know these are difficult times for many of our customers and this is one more way we recognize their impact on the agricultural industry and our cooperative. We are continually focused on generating solid returns so we can give our members not only the products and services they need, but additional resources generated by working together and sharing our success,” says Dave Armstrong, former GreenStone President and CEO. “The board of directors, and all of us at GreenStone, are pleased to be positioned to provide this $82 million of support back to our members.”
We will celebrate our members and provide our personal thank you to customers as we distribute checks on Patronage Day at each of the local GreenStone branches on March 14. Notification letters will be sent to all eligible members in mid-February.
Link to the full article: https://issuu.com/greenstonefcs/docs/partners_winter_19_final/18
