COUDERSPORT — AgChoice Farm Credit has announced that $700,000 in cash patronage has been distributed to its customer-owners in the Coudersport branch territory based on 2013 profits.
Company officials said returning profits to its customers in the form of patronage is a unique benefit to AgChoice’s cooperative structure. Patronage distributions totaled $15 million this spring across AgChoice’s service territory, which includes 52 counties in Pennsylvania and four counties in West Virginia.
In 2013, AgChoice achieved net income of more than $50 million before tax. The earnings support AgChoice’s patronage program as well as many other initiatives for the benefit of its customers. Company officials said AgChoice’s patronage model allows the organization to build capital and be profitable while providing a mechanism to return profits over time to its customer-owners.
AgChoice Farm Credit’s Coudersport branch office services more than $60 million in total loan volume for agricultural, forest products and rural customers in Cameron, Elk, McKean and Potter counties in Pennsylvania as well as forest products customers across its service territory.
