It’s Patronage time for GreenStone’s cooperative members, and the members elected to the Board of Directors are pleased to approve another $120 million back. For 20 years GreenStone has returned profits back to members through the Patronage program, and this year’s return will bring the total to more than $1 billion back in member’s hands. This billion means more than the dollars returned, and your board members took the opportunity to share their perspective of what that $1.08 billion means to them!
Gene College,
Appointed Director
A billion dollars - if every employee conversation about how to serve our customers more effectively was worth $1,000, that makes one million thoughtful dialogues!
Michael Feight,
Lenawee County, MI
A billion dollars of Patronage. A true sign of how a cooperative was designed to work. The staff at GreenStone is doing their part to help you realize your goals that move from generation to generation.
Terri Hawbaker,
Clinton County, MI
GreenStone’s ability to distribute a record setting billion plus dollars in Patronage simply validates their efficiency, and the program’s procedure by keeping the cooperative healthy first then maintaining competitive rates to its members. The Patronage program ensures GreenStone will be there for many generations to come!
Trent Hilding,
Montcalm County, MI
GreenStone creates a lot of opportunities in providing the money it loans and returns to its customers. It is hard to grasp a billion dollars has been returned to borrower members, but I am grateful for the opportunity to participate.
Bruce Lewis,
Hillsdale County, MI
A billion dollars of Patronage returned to our members in twenty years. What a wonderful event. What a great organization we have that not only is there daily to help with our needs but also there to give back year after year.
Ron Lucas,
Alpena County, MI
As you meet your fellow shareholders on Patronage Day, they are all appreciative to get a Patronage check back. Most can’t believe we’ve given back that much!
Peter Maxwell,
Midland County, MI
I reflect on one billion dollars and think of a popular fast-food chain that used to say millions served, then posted over one billion served and eventually used the line, billions and billions served. I look forward to our future when we can say billions and billions returned. I certainly know the returns we send directly back to our shareholders are impactful and am personally grateful!
Dave McConnachie,
Sanilac County, MI
Owners of the cooperative know what a billion dollars in Patronage returns means to their farms. As a director, I know it’s a direct response of the health of GreenStone. And I’m confident the next twenty years will be even better.
Dennis Muchmore,
Appointed Director
Over the twenty years I’ve been fortunate enough to be included on the GreenStone Board, I‘ve seen first-hand what a billion dollars of Patronage can mean to our members and our agricultural community at large. This exceptional co-op has created a billion dollars of reinvestment, a billion dollars of leadership and with apologies to the original lyricist for a slight alteration in an old song, “Greenstone has walked a billion miles for your smiles.”
Ed Reed,
Cass County, MI
The last 20 years have been successful in a billion ways. I can think of a billion reasons to be part of the GreenStone family. What has a billion dollars meant to the 28,000 GreenStone cooperative members? About 100 basis points – 1% - returned to them as cash Patronage.
Go GreenStone!
Scott Roggenbuck,
Huron County, MI
A billion is a large number. A billion seconds is 32 years.
It took around 20 years to reach the milestone of a billion dollars of Patronage paid out to our members. However, at the current pace we could reach the second billion before half that time expires. Patronage, just one more thing that sets GreenStone apart from the competition.
Troy Sellen,
Oconto County, WI
For 20 years GreenStone has given us cash to put back into our homes, communities and businesses. Patronage is more than a bonus check. It’s a billion different examples that prove the cooperative structure of Farm Credit lending works.
Marilyn Thelen,
Clinton County, MI
The billion dollars returned to customers over 20 years is an indication that GreenStone is doing well and when they do well, they share this back with the members. This is a “thank you” to the members. It takes good members working with GreenStone to be successful. Farmers big and small will be very appreciative of the check this March.
Mike Timmer,
Allegan County, MI
While GreenStone appreciates the relationships it has with our shareholders, nothing says, “thank you, we have been successful together,” like Patronage. One billion over 20 years... Wow!
Dale Wagner,
Manitowoc County, WI
Returning a billion dollars of Patronage to our members is an impressive milestone. However, to me what’s even more important is the effort put in by every employee and member borrower to do their job well, to operate their business efficiently and to work together as a team so we all can be successful. This is why, as a GreenStone director, I would like to offer a billion Thank Yous.
Jed Welder,
Montcalm County, MI
I always appreciate the timing of Patronage. It’s well after the harvest but before our large expenditures during planting season. It’s also a time to reflect on our profession before we get too busy to consider anything other than the placement of the seeds going into the ground!
To view the winter 2025 issue of Partners magazine in its entirety, click here.
