Legacy Ag Credit Returns $3 Million in Patronage to Customers

SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas — Legacy Ag Credit, a northeast Texas financing cooperative, has welcome news for its member-borrowers.

The rural lender is returning $3 million of its 2023 earnings to stockholders in the form of cash patronage. Checks will be distributed to customers in March.

“One of the hallmarks of the cooperative business model is sharing profits with its members,” said Derrell Chapman, Legacy Ag Credit chief executive officer. “I am pleased to report that based on 2023 operating results the Legacy Ag Credit Board of Directors has approved this distribution to our co-op members.”

As a cooperative, Legacy Ag Credit keeps only the earnings it needs for operations and returns a portion of the interest that borrowers paid on their loans the previous year. Patronage payments effectively reduce its customers’ interest rate for that year.

Over the past 10 years, Legacy has returned more than $24.5 million in cash patronage to its member-borrowers, who are also the co-op’s owners.

“We appreciate the support of our membership, and I thank the employees and directors of Legacy who work every day to make patronage distributions like this possible,” Chapman said.

Legacy Ag Credit finances rural land, agricultural production, country homes and agribusinesses in Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Kaufman, Marion, Rains, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties. It is headquartered in Sulphur Springs and has lending offices in Canton, Gilmer, Terrell, Longview, Marshall, and Sulphur Springs.

Legacy Ag Credit is a part of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of cooperatively owned banks and lending associations and has been a reliable source of rural credit for more than 100 years.