The Ag New Mexico Advantage

As a credit cooperative, Ag New Mexico is owned by its borrowers and managed by a customer-elected board of directors, who are farmers, ranchers and business people. When you receive an Ag New Mexico loan, you become a stockholder, which entitles you to vote in the director elections and on other business issues and to run for the board of directors. No other type of lender offers this benefit.

We receive our funding from Farm Credit Bank of Texas, of which Ag New Mexico is a part-owner. Farm Credit Bank of Texas, in turn, receives its funding from the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, which issues bonds and notes in the nation's money markets. Because the Farm Credit System has been doing well for a long time and is a AAA- rated organization, Farm Credit bonds are attractive to the investment community.

When Ag New Mexico does well financially, our customers benefit. That's the basic philosophy behind our patronage program, and it's a key reason to do business with our cooperative. Every year, the board of directors decides how much of our earnings need to be maintained as capital to fund the co-op's operations and growth. Then, the remainder may be returned to our customer-stockholders in the form of patronage, which lowers their effective interest rate.