It’s been an interesting start to winter with temperatures and precipitation coming in at all sides. I was blessed with the opportunity to get away for a bit just before the holidays and enjoyed some great family time with my wife, adult children and granddaughter. It’s my hope that each of you found many moments to pause and enjoy those around you to bring a renewed energy into the new year! Happy 2025!
Recap
The cooperative ended 2024 with results that should support a positive outlook for what’s ahead. Although the final numbers won’t be in until just after this magazine gets mailed, our net income is looking strong at about $300 million, which would be a record! But as you’ve hopefully come to expect from GreenStone – income is only one piece of the puzzle. As a cooperative, it’s also important to be efficient and good stewards of your capital – the good news that you’ll read more about in our annual report later this year is the cooperative is running efficiently while making prudent investments in people and technology. GreenStone’s credit quality also remains strong as we head into what some expect to be a bit rougher waters for some agricultural commodities. GreenStone is well positioned to work with members with solid capital to fund expected challenges in 2025 while keeping our total Patronage paid out at high levels to help support our members.
Announcements
Speaking of Patronage – we’ve got a BIG payment ahead of us. The board of directors approved another $120 million to be returned to our members on March 20, 2025! While that number alone is an impactful value for members that truly makes a difference in your business and family, what’s even more significant is this payment will make the 20-year total returned to members $1.08 BILLION. You read that right: BILLION. On March 20th we’ll hand out checks to our members for the 20th year, all together totaling over one billion dollars returned over those 20 years. I joined GreenStone as the Chief Financial Officer in September of 2007, our third year of paying Patronage. That year we paid a total of $15 million in cash patronage. In 2008 and 2009, we actually paid slightly lower amounts of $13.5 million and $12 million, respectively. I am not sure any members of management or our board of directors pictured the day we would pay $120 million on Patronage Day and that the 20-year total would exceed $1 billion. I could not be prouder of the success our cooperative has had.
There’s more on Patronage Day later in this magazine, but what I really want to convey is that Patronage represents so much more than the dollars. The dollars make an important financial benefit to our cooperative members, but to get those dollars there’s been thousands and thousands of smiles, hellos, handshakes, conversations, questions, worries, relationships built, miles driven, customer visits and memories.– I could go on, but I think you get my point.
Our cooperative is about far more than the bottom line. Yes, we must remain financially strong in order to continue to serve our members, provide these returns, and support you through all your dreams and challenges – but we value being a part of your community, providing reliable experience, being focused with you on both today and tomorrow, and offering a friendly face along the way.
To help ensure we’re conveying those characteristics at every interaction with GreenStone, we’re also excited to release our “refreshed” brand. What’s that mean? Good question (I had to ask too when our team first started talking about it). We’re still GreenStone Farm Credit Services, our name and logo aren’t going anywhere, nor are our products and services or the way we work with customers – that’s who we are and what makes our cooperative special. But the visual way you see us in our advertising, in materials you receive from GreenStone – even in this Partners magazine – there’s a refreshed design, and a more personal message style being adopted to help us stay relevant and relatable to our members, and consistent in the experience you get no matter when or where you interact with GreenStone. This is just one more example of all the big and little details your cooperative is doing to progress with our members and be prepared to advance with and for you.
Future
I started out talking about 2025, so let me close with a few thoughts on our view of the future which brings both opportunities and challenges. Like other industries, agriculture is cyclical and it’s entering what is referred to as a correction phase as margins tighten for many. With that in mind, that’s why you’ll hear us emphasize the importance of our members being prepared, being adaptable, and being communicative.
As a relationship-based lender, we’re here to partner with our members to help you in your decision-making process, providing financial options that not only align with your individual situation, but that also balance the financial strength of the cooperative and the membership as a whole. Communication is key in all scenarios – the more transparent and proactive members are, the more options there will be to consider together.
On the interest rate front, the Federal Reserve dropped rates in 2024 to benefit borrowers, although future considerations may come with an even more cautious approach as we watch the inflation and employment rate trajectories. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a “time will tell” situation.
Wishes for 2025
Your GreenStone cooperative is focused on partnering with customers, achieving growth to sustain financial stability, and remaining committed to our mission of helping our customers achieve success. Thank you for being an important part of a strong 2024. As we work to execute our business initiatives for the year ahead, I sincerely wish you a year of achievement in whatever form is most important to you!
Please reach out to me any time I can be of assistance. Thank you for your membership and business!
To view the winter 2025 issue of Partners magazine in its entirety, click here.
