CHS committed to help owners grow

Farm and Ranch December 9, 2011 During the annual meeting this week in Minneapolis of one of the nation’s leading cooperatives, CHS, its President and CEO Carl Casale, told two thousand owners and others that strategic aspirations are in place, strategies are clearly defined and there is a financial foundation for investing in its energy, grains and food businesses. During the past year Casale said the company made or announced plans to make investments in its businesses totaling more than 1.3 billion dollars.

CHS announced record earnings of 961-million dollars for fiscal 2011 in November. An estimated 421-million will be returned to CHS owners as cash patronage, equity redemptions and preferred stock dividends during fiscal 2012.

CHS Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Kastelic said it’s great to celebrate setting a new mark, but he said it’s what behind the earnings that matter more.

Kastelic: "They represent the ability of this company and its diverse business operations, to capture opportunity by taking advantage of our market knowledge, logistics skills and risk management tools, within a global marketplace that remains driven by supple-demand volatility and economic uncertainty."

Among the highlights reported at the annual meeting was a commitment to strengthening the CHS export position in the Pacific Northwest through terminal investments at Kalama, Washington.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.