Customers in Effingham and two neighboring counties will receive nearly $382,000 from AgSouth Farm Credit’s record earnings in 2013.

“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,” CEO Bill Spigener announced.

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,” said CFO Alisa D. Gunter. “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.”

Sylvania Regional Vice President Allen Daley said, “Our customers in Chatham, Effingham and Screven counties will receive a combined amount of $381,813 in cash from these distributions.”

In mid-April, AgSouth Farm Credit customers will receive an additional $19.1 million in allocated surplus returns for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008. Gunter added that, “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. The economic impact these two distributions will have on the 34 South Carolina and 59 Georgia communities we serve will be major.”

According to Spigener, “As our slogan says, we really do ‘put our profits in your pockets.’ We are financially strong, and credit is available for farmers, agribusiness, landowners and others who qualify for our programs.”

AgSouth Farm Credit provides loans for land, equipment and production agriculture; crop insurance; leasing; and home mortgages. The association is headquartered in Statesboro, with administrative offices in Spartanburg and Orangeburg, S.C.