The bankrupt and now defunct Farmers Cooperative Assn. will be sending out checks totaling more than $600,000 to approximately 3,000 area farmers later this month.

Mel Squyres, the chief financial officer for the trust that oversees the remaining assets of the bankrupt cooperative, said farmers should expect to receive a 10 percent patronage payment either on or before Jan. 15.

The members of the former Lawrence-based cooperative are owed approximately $6.5 million in patronage or equity payments. Squyres said board members for the bankruptcy trust agreed this week to pay 10 percent of the total. Squyres said board members hope to be able to pay at least 10 percent a year until the entire amount is paid off.

Squyres said many of the checks farmers will receive will be in the $1,000 range, but some will be as high as $5,000.

The cooperative closed all its operations in 2000 after it was forced into bankruptcy by its primary lender. At the time, the cooperative was the largest in the state of Kansas.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal-World.