Fertiliser co-operative Ballance Agri-Nutrients will pay its farmer shareholders a record rebate and dividend this year after more than quadrupling its trading profit.
Ballance has announced an operating profit of almost $86 million for the 2010/11 financial year, compared with about $20 million the previous year.
It will be distributing $49 million of that to farmers in the form of a rebate, and a dividend of more than $50 dollars a tonne.
Ballance chief executive Larry Bilodeau says a sharp lift in farmer demand for fertiliser has driven an exceptional year for the co-operative.