Cooperatives anticipate emerging from conversations with an
increased focus on collaboration to better serve customers and
owners
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. and ST.
PAUL, Minn., Jan. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today,
the GROWMARK and CHS Boards of Directors are pleased to
announce that they have jointly agreed to conduct an exploratory
process over the coming months to identify opportunities for the
two cooperatives to further collaborate to better serve owners,
customers and the cooperative system into the future.
The two farmer-owned cooperatives have had a long-standing
relationship. Teams from GROWMARK and CHS have collaborated on
strategic projects in ways that benefit their farmer-owners,
cooperative-owners and customers.
CHS and GROWMARK are currently collaborating to improve
agriculture, invest in technology and bring new solutions to
customers. In 2021, the two cooperatives formed Cooperative
Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on supporting advancements
in breakthrough technologies for the agriculture industry.
"Continuing our long history of adding value to our members and
customers, while ensuring a strong and vibrant cooperative system
for the future, is critical to the GROWMARK System," said GROWMARK
CEO Mark Orr. "Our partnership with
CHS in Cooperative Ventures is a great example of cooperation
amongst cooperatives that benefits the shareholders of both
companies."
"We believe that by working together we can better serve our
farmer- and cooperative-owners. Ultimately, we aim to better meet
customer demand for our owners' products around the world and
increase the value of the cooperative system," said
Jay Debertin, president and CEO of CHS.
While the outcome of the exploratory process is not yet known,
both GROWMARK and CHS anticipate emerging with an even
stronger relationship focused on improving customer outcomes and
strengthening agriculture for farmer- and cooperative-owners.
About GROWMARK
GROWMARK (www.growmark.com) is an
agricultural cooperative serving almost 400,000 customers across
North America, providing agronomy,
energy, facility engineering and construction, and logistics
products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk
management services. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK owns the FS
trademark, which is used by member cooperatives.
About CHS Inc.
CHS Inc. (www.chsinc.com) creates
connections to empower agriculture. As a leading global
agribusiness and the largest farmer-owned cooperative in
the United States, CHS serves
customers in 65 countries and employs nearly 10,000 people
worldwide. We provide critical crop inputs, market access and risk
management services that help farmers feed the world. Our
diversified agronomy, grains, foods and energy businesses recorded
revenues of $45.6 billion in fiscal
year 2023. We advance sustainability through our commitment to
being stewards of the environment, building economic viability and
strengthening community and employee well-being.
This document and other CHS Inc. publicly available documents
contain, and CHS officers, directors and representatives may from
time to time make, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning
of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be
identified by words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal,"
"seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy,"
"future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references
to future periods. Forward-looking statements are neither
historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead,
they are based only on CHS current beliefs, expectations and
assumptions regarding the future of its businesses, financial
condition and results of operations, future plans and strategies,
projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other
future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the
future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and
changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of
which are outside of CHS control, including CHS' ability to
identify opportunities to collaborate with GROWMARK on strategic
projects and whether such projects ultimately benefit both
farmer-owners and customers across both cooperatives. CHS actual
results and financial condition may differ materially from those
indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should
not place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause CHS actual results
and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated
in the forward-looking statements are discussed or identified in
CHS filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including in the "Risk Factors" discussion in Item 1A of CHS Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2023. These factors may include:
changes in commodity prices; the impact of government policies,
mandates, regulations and trade agreements; global and regional
political, economic, legal and other risks of doing business
globally; the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine; the escalation of conflict in the
Middle East; the impact of
inflation; the impact of epidemics, pandemics, outbreaks of disease
and other adverse public health developments, including COVID-19;
the impact of market acceptance of alternatives to refined
petroleum products; consolidation among our suppliers and
customers; nonperformance by contractual counterparties; changes in
federal income tax laws or our tax status; the impact of compliance
or noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations; the impact
of any governmental investigations; the impact of environmental
liabilities and litigation; actual or perceived quality, safety or
health risks associated with our products; the impact of
seasonality; the effectiveness of our risk management strategies;
business interruptions, casualty losses and supply chain issues;
the impact of workforce factors; our funding needs and financing
sources; financial institutions' and other capital sources'
policies concerning energy-related businesses; technological
improvements that decrease the demand for our agronomy and energy
products; our ability to complete, integrate and benefit from
acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, divestitures and
other nonordinary course-of-business events; security breaches or
other disruptions to our information technology systems or assets;
the impact of our environmental, social and governance practices,
including failures or delays in achieving our strategies or
expectations related to climate change or other environmental
matters; the impairment of long-lived assets; the impact of bank
failures; and other factors affecting our businesses generally. Any
forward-looking statements made by CHS in this document are based
only on information currently available to CHS and speak only as of
the date on which the statement is made. CHS undertakes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether written
or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of
new information, future developments or otherwise except as
required by applicable law.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/growmark-and-chs-enter-into-exploratory-process-to-discover-opportunities-to-best-serve-customers-and-owners-302033705.html
SOURCE CHS Inc.