From AgCarolina Farm Credit

RALEIGH — AgCarolina Farm Credit, a lending institution for the rural and agricultural communities of eastern North Carolina, announces member-borrowers will receive a refund of 23 percent of the accrued interest on their loans for 2016 in the form of patronage refund checks.

The all-cash patronage will be paid in the amount of $11.2 million to the borrowers of AgCarolina Farm Credit.

“AgCarolina Farm Credit was a successful organization in 2016. With our success and commitment to the cooperative structure of business, AgCarolina shares with our borrowers by putting our profits in their pockets,” said Dave Corum, CEO of AgCarolina Farm Credit. “Over the last 29 years, AgCarolina has returned more than $224 million to its member-borrowers of eastern North Carolina through patronage refunds. When we distribute our profits to our borrowers, it reduces their effective cost of borrowing and is a distinct representation of the financial benefits of doing business on a cooperative basis with Farm Credit.”