During 2017, the Company, with the approval of shareholders, created the 2017 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”). The 2017 Plan permits the award of up to 800 thousand shares to the Company’s directors and employees to attract and retain exceptional personnel, motivate performance and most importantly to help align the interests of Farmers’ executives with those of the Company’s shareholders. There were 18,913 service time based shares and 67,651 performance based shares granted under the 2017 Plan during the three month period ended March 31, 2019, as shown in the table below. The actual number of performance based stock awards issued will depend on certain performance conditions which are mainly average return on equity compared to a group of peer companies over a three year vesting period.

During 2012, the Company, with the approval of shareholders, created the 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”). The 2012 Plan permitted the award of up to 500 thousand shares to the Company’s directors and employees to promote the Company’s long-term financial success by motivating performance through long-term incentive compensation and to better align the interests of its employees with those of its shareholders. There were no additional shares granted under the Plan during the three months ended March 31, 2019. Any new restricted stock awards will be issued under the 2017 Plan described above.

The restricted stock awards were granted with a fair value price equal to the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of the grant. Expense recognized was $320 thousand for the three month period ended March 31, 2019. During the prior period, the expense recognized was $397 thousand for the three month period ended March 31, 2018. As of March 31, 2019, there was $2.3 million of total unrecognized compensation expense related to the non-vested shares granted under the Plans. The remaining cost is expected to be recognized over 3 years.

The following is the activity under the Plans during the three month period ended March 31, 2019.

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2019
	Maximum Awarded Service Units		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Maximum Awarded Performance Units		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Beginning balance - nonvested shares		87,955	$	13.04		203,828	$	11.96
Granted		18,913		13.61		67,651		13.50
Vested		0		0		0		0.00
Forfeited		0		0		0		0.00
Ending balance - nonvested shares		106,868		13.14		271,479		12.35