AgSouth Farm Credit Distributes $20 Million in Profits to Members

STATESBORO, Ga. (February 12, 2019) – AgSouth Farm Credit CEO Pat Calhoun reports that the customer-owned cooperative is distributing more than $20 million to its customers this week.
The distribution represents 100 percent of the cooperative’s allocated surplus from 2013 and totals $20.2 million. An initial cash distribution of more than $8.6 million of AgSouth’s 2013 profits was distributed to the cooperative’s members in cash in early 2014.
Calhoun says that, "For over three decades, AgSouth’s cooperative business model has allowed for significant distributions of profits to our members. A portion of our profits are held in surplus to make sure the company remains financially strong while staying competitive. Our members typically get 30 percent of the distribution in cash once profits have been calculated each year and the remaining 70 percent at a later date. We are very proud of our 31-year history of returning allocated surplus on a 5-year revolvement."
CFO Bo Fennell adds that, "AgSouth remains financially strong and will be returning another healthy distribution of approximately $34 million to our members from our 2018 profits. Thirty percent, or $10.2 million, will be distributed as cash this spring, with the remaining $23.8 million being distributed at a future date."
AgSouth Farm Credit provides loans for land, equipment and production agriculture; crop insurance; leasing; and home mortgages. The association serves 93 South Carolina and Georgia counties and is headquartered in Statesboro, Ga.