AgSouth Farm Credit members will receive a combined amount in the millions after the company took in record earnings during 2013.

Included in those customers, receiving funds are those in Newton. Along with Newton County, Rockdale, Fulton, DeKalb, Greene, Jasper, Putnam and Morgan County credit members will receive a combined amount of $2,108,426 in cash, according to Madison Regional Vice President Ricky Cochran.

“Thanks to record earnings of nearly $50 million during 2013, current and former members of AgSouth Farm Credit will receive significant returns over the next few weeks,” said AgSouth Farm Credit CEO Bill Spigener.

The agricultural cooperative returned $29.3 million in profits to its customers from 2013 earnings the last week of March. 

“To an AgSouth customer, receiving this year’s patronage is like receiving 29 cents back for every dollar paid in interest on his or her loan,” CFO Alisa D. Gunter said. “The cash portion of the distribution totals $8.8 million. The remaining $20.5 million will be held in an allocated surplus account to build the Association’s capital. The decision to distribute allocated surplus must come from the Board, and we’re proud to say we have consistently revolved this money on a five-year schedule for 23 consistent years.”

In mid-April AgSouth Farm Credit customers will receive an additional $19.1 million in allocated surplus returns for the year ended December 31, 2008. 

“With the two upcoming distributions, the Association will have returned nearly $384 million in cash to our members since we began the patronage program in 1991,” Gunter said. “The economic impact these two distributions will have on the 34 South Carolina and 59 Georgia communities we serve will be major.”

AgSouth Farm Credit is one of the strongest agricultural lending cooperatives in the Southeast. As of December 31, 2013, AgSouth had more than 8,100 members, $1.59 billion in assets and $285 million in capital and allocated accounts.