Northwest Farm Credit Services, the big Spokane-based ag-lending cooperative, says it's sending out to its stockholders patronage refund checks totaling $53 million.

FDS Board Chairman Kevin Riel said in a press release that this year's refund is the largest in the cooperative's history. It brings the total amount of refunds paid to stockholders since 1995 to $321 million.

Northwest Farm Credit provides financing, crop insurances, and related services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, commercial fishermen, timber producers, and rural homeowners in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Alaska.

The association has about 12,500 voting stockholders, and a key cooperative principle is returning a portion of net earnings to stockholders based upon their use of the cooperative. To ensure equitability, it allocates such money, called patronage, based on their eligible annual average loan volume. It distributes most of the cash in January, based on the association's overall financial performance in the previous calendar year.

"The continued strong financial performance of our association is a direct result of the business success of our customer owners," says Riel, a hop grower from Yakima, Wash. "For most producers, 2011 was a year of good commodity prices and growing conditions which have allowed us to improve our balance sheets and position us to weather the cyclical nature of our businesses."

Phil DiPoli, who took over as president and CEO of the association on Dec. 1, 2010, succeeding Jay Penick, told the Journal in an interview last October that he was "very bullish long term" on the outlook of the federally-chartered cooperative.

The associate leases a 61,400-square-foot office building at 1700 S. Assembly on Sunset Hill, where its headquarters is located, and operates 45 branches in the five states it services.

It employs about 640 employees overall, including about 180 at its headquarters. DiPofi said he expects it to add another 25 to 30 employees here this year.