Farm Credit Services of America to give $4,388,000 in dividends to farmers in six NE Iowa counties

Farm Credit Services of America has announced that eligible customer-owners in Winneshiek, Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Chickasaw counties will receive checks this month totaling $4,388,000 – their share of the financial cooperative's $200 million cash-back dividend for 2017.

The share of FCS America's 2017 dividend returned to Iowa customer-owners amounts to $80.7 million. Eligible customer-owners served by FCS America in Northeast Iowa received a total of $12.8 million in cash-back dividends as part of the 2017 patronage program.

Each eligible customer's cash-back dividend is based on the average loan volume during the calendar year. The more eligible loan business customers have with the cooperative, the more they benefit financially through cash-back dividends.

The FCS America Board of Directors approves each year's cash-back distribution in December based on a number of factors, including the cooperative's financial performance. During the 14 years that FCS America has distributed cash-back dividends, net income has grown to $582.4 million from $294 million and members' equity has increased to $5.1 billion from $1.5 billion.

For more information on the 2017 cash-back dividend, including county-by-county distributions, visit powerofownership.com.