Co-op refunds $12M-plus to member-borrowers

RIDGELAND — In April, member-borrowers of First South Farm Credit will receive patronage refund checks for 2012 totaling more than $12 million as part of the patronage refund program.

Daniel Viator, chairman of the First South board of directors, said, “This is the 18th consecutive year we’ve paid a patronage refund. Over that period of time First South has declared patronage totaling over $229 million to be paid to its member-borrowers through patronage refunds and retirements of allocated surplus.”

First South Farm Credit is a farmer-owned cooperative providing short, intermediate and long-term financing and related services to full and part-time farmers, agricultural-related businesses and rural residents in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.