CEO’S Message

Leveraging Farm Credit East’s Value

As I reflect on all Farm Credit East accomplished in 2023, I’m reminded of the value of a strong team — or in this case, teams. While the hard work of the Farm Credit East team was an important factor in 2023’s strong financial results, our cooperative’s secret sauce is the teamwork between our dedicated staff and our members. Each area of our business – credit, tax, consulting, crop insurance, etc. – provides expertise and a unique perspective. In working together, the collective team provides tremendous value to our customers’ businesses.

The importance of leveraging expertise and drafting a plan is not lost on Farm Credit East. We spend several months planning for the coming year, including leveraging insights from internal and external advisors. Consistent with our long-term strategy, our annual plan focuses on the year ahead, while also considering factors that may impact our association in the coming years. This annual planning process begins with the board of directors in August and is finalized in January.

In 2024, Farm Credit East’s plan builds on previous years’ plans with a focus on innovation and digital advancement in the year ahead. Our association along with the board of directors believe technology can help facilitate growth — and continued growth enables Farm Credit East to preserve our commitment to customer value through patronage dividends.

At their January meeting, the board approved a distribution, consistent with its long-term target, of $120 million in cash patronage dividends. In addition, the board approved a special one-time $10 million patronage distribution based on 2023’s outstanding financial results, for a total of $130 million of earnings returned to customer-owners. Strong growth in our business, coupled with gains from our continued strategic investments in technologies and partnerships, enabled us to achieve strong financial results in 2023, resulting in this year’s patronage dividends. Learn more about our patronage dividend program.

From patronage dividends to a dedicated board of directors and committed team of experts, Farm Credit East aims to continue to deliver value to its customers— that’s what’s top of mind for your cooperative in the year ahead. 

Michael J Reynolds
Chief Executive Officer
Michael.Reynolds@farmcrediteast.com