Spokane, Wash. - March 2, 2016 – Customer-members of Northwest Farm Credit Services located primarily throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska recently received $91.9 million in cash patronage as a result of the cooperative’s strong financial performance.

“One of the most important benefits of being a Farm Credit customer-member is the opportunity to share in the profits of the association in the form of cash patronage,” said Dave Hedlin, Mt. Vernon, Wash. farmer and chair of the Northwest FCS board. “Patronage payments reduce the effective cost of borrowing money for our operations and provide a significant boost to our rural communities.”

The Northwest FCS board recently approved an increase in cash patronage from 0.75 percent to 1.0 percent of a customer’s eligible average daily loan balance.      

Cash patronage returned for 2015 totaled a record $91.9 million compared to $64.1 million for 2014. Since the patronage program began in 2000, Northwest FCS has returned $590.6 million in cash patronage to customer-members.

About Northwest Farm Credit Services
Northwest FCS is a $10.6 billion financial cooperative providing financing and related services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, commercial fishermen, timber producers, rural homeowners and crop insurance customers in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Northwest FCS is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System that supports agriculture and rural communities with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. For more information, go to northwestfcs.com.

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Contact
Jennifer Rohrer
Media Relations Coordinator
509.340.5303 or Jennifer.Rohrer@northwestfcs.com