Tobacco growers receive co-op dividend

The board of directors of the US Tobacco Cooperative on Friday declared a patronage dividend of $0.21 per pound of tobacco sold to the cooperative during Fiscal Year 2014.

‘Due to a high quality 2013 crop and record earnings, the Cooperative was able to authorize a cash payment of $0.11 cents per pound to be paid immediately and to allocate $0.10 per pound to each Grower’s account in Certificates of Interest, the cooperative said in a press note.

‘A total of 889 Growers shared in the $5,142,568 payout which is based on the patronage income from consolidated operations for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2014.’

CEO Stuart Thompson was quoted as saying that the cooperative was constantly looking for new markets so that it could buy more of its growers’ tobacco and maximize patronage dividends.

“This is the fourth consecutive year that the cooperative has paid a patronage dividend, paying out over $14.1 million to our members from patronage source income since 2010,” said Thompson.

At the same time the board authorized the co-operative to pass its Section 199 Domestic Production Activities Deduction of $0.14 per pound to its growers.

‘While the Cooperative is entitled to take this tax deduction on its Federal Income Taxes, it may choose instead to pass the deduction along to its Growers and allow the Growers to take advantage of this valuable tax deduction,’ the press note said.

The co-operative was previously known as the Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation, which used to administer the tobacco price support program of the US Federal Tobacco Program.