The Board of Directors of U.S. Tobacco Cooperative Inc. 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. 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.

Stuart Thompson, CEO, affirmed, “Our Cooperative is committed to our Growers. We are constantly looking for new markets so that we can buy more of our 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.”

The Board of Directors also authorized the Cooperative to pass its Section 199 Domestic Production Activities Deduction to its Growers of $0.14 per pound. 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.