Northwest Farm Credit Services has reported 2016 earnings of $247.2 million, a decrease of $8.4 million, or 3 percent, compared with $255.6 million in 2015. 

The Spokane-based agricultural lending cooperative says higher earnings in 2015 were a result of larger credit loss reversals in that year. 

Phil DiPofi, president and CEO of Northwest Farm Credit, says in a recent press release that 2016 still was a solid year for the association, despite the downturn in prices and demand for some agricultural commodities. 

“Northwest FCS continues to grow in loan volume, capital, and patronage paid to our customer-members,” says DiPofi.  

Michael Stolp, Spokane-based vice president of consumer insights for Northwest Farm Credit, says the decreased demand DiPofi mentioned was largely related to oversupply in the wheat, cattle, hay, and uncontracted potato markets.

“For wheat, oversupply was driven by both strong domestic and world production,” says Stolp. “Similarly, we also saw strong domestic production of hay and potatoes this past year, as well as rebounding domestic cow herds that increased the supply of calves.”

Looking ahead to how those markets will fair this year, Stolp says, “Right now, we’re just waiting to see how producers’ plants do this spring and how they respond to low market prices.” 

As a cooperative, Northwest Farm Credit Services each year returns a share of its net income to its members in the form of patronage dividends. The association’s board recently approved an increase in patronage of 1 percent of a customer’s eligible average daily loan balance. 

The $99.4 million cash patronage returned set a new record for the co-op, up from last year’s total of $91.9 million. Since the patronage program began in 2000, Northwest FCS has returned $690 million in cash patronage to customer-members. 

Northwest Farm Credit Services is a financial cooperative that provides more than $10 billion in financing and related services to farms, ranches, and natural resource businesses in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The co-op, which celebrated 100 years of service in 2015, is a member of the nationwide Farm Credit System supporting agriculture and rural communities with financial services.