CHS Co-ops Committed to Added Value in Grain-Based Food Chain

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CHS Co-ops Committed to Added Value in Grain-Based Food Chain
    MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Finding new ways to link producers to
the added value opportunities available in the grain-based food chain is the
long-term direction for Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives (CHS), the co-op's
leaders told members today.
    "We are here to help producers gain value from growing and marketing grain
and taking it into the consumer marketplace," President and Chief Executive
Officer John Johnson told more than 3,000 delegates and guests gathered for
the CHS annual meeting at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
    Achieving that means establishing a strong chain from the producer to the
consumer that takes advantage of the cooperative system's strengths, he said.
    "We view CHS as an integrated foods system in which both the energy and
agronomic supply side and the grain marketing and processing operations are
vitally important," Johnson said.  "Each of the more than 1,200 member
cooperatives and affiliates in this system is unique.  Each is vitally
important to this producer-owned system's future."
    For fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2000, CHS reported earnings of
$87.4 million, up from $86 million in fiscal 1999.  Sales increased 33 percent
to $8.4 billion in fiscal 2000.
    "Fiscal 2000 was a year in which we worked hard to achieve economic
success for our owners in a very difficult economic environment," reported
John Schmitz, executive vice president and chief financial officer.  "This is
a financially healthy company that has achieved good results within today's
marketplace.  But we also know we have the ability to do more.  We'll strive
during 2001 and the years ahead to return to our owners even greater value as
part of this cooperative system 'chain reaction.'"
    In conjunction with the annual meeting, the cooperative unveiled its new
logo and abbreviated name usage -- CHS Cooperatives, or CHS.  The change does
not affect the company's legal name.
    "We believe this will not only be easier for people to say -- not to
mention write out -- but will help us begin to clarify our overall image.  We
want to be viewed as an overall agricultural foods cooperative that includes
both inputs and outputs," said Chairman of the Board Steven Burnet, a Moro,
Ore., producer.
    Well-respected, established brands -- including Cenex for energy, Harvest
States for grain and Agriliance for agronomy -- will continue to be the
cooperative system's "face" in the marketplace," Burnet and Johnson added.

    Other CHS highlights for fiscal 2000 include:

    -- Cash returns of $43 million to owners based on fiscal 1999 performance.
       CHS will distribute $43.7 million in fiscal 2001 based on fiscal 2000
       earnings.
    -- Active involvement by the CHS Board of Directors and governmental
       affairs staff to win passage of permanent normal trade status for
       China.
    -- Growth in the retail energy business including CENEX AMPRIDE
       convenience stores and credit card sales, along with completion of the
       purchase of the Williams Companies wholesale propane marketing
       business.
    -- Establishment of Agriliance, LLC, a joint venture of CHS, Farmland
       Industries, Inc., and Land O'Lakes, Inc., that is now North America's
       premier agricultural inputs supplier.
    -- Purchase of Sparta Foods, a suburban Minneapolis-based maker of
       tortillas and related products, along with the acquisition of Bec-Lin
       Foods, a manufacturer of corn and flour tortillas, as well as lefse and
       dumpling mix.
    -- Strong performance in the oilseed processing business, largely driven
       by the record performance of Ventura Foods, LLC, an oil-based foods
       manufacturer and packager in which CHS has 50 percent ownership.

     CHS Cooperatives ( http://www.CHSco-ops.com ) is a producer-to-consumer
cooperative system owned by farmers, ranchers and their local co-ops from the
Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest and from the Canadian border to Texas.
This fully integrated agricultural foods cooperative operates petroleum oil
refineries/pipelines and provides a wide variety of products and services
ranging from grain marketing to food processing.  Through a broad range of
working partnerships, CHS also markets and distributes energy products,
agronomic inputs and feed to rural America, as well as grain and processed
food products to customers around the world.
SOURCE CHS Cooperatives
http://www.CHSco-ops.com
CONTACT:
Lani Jordan of CHS Cooperatives, 651-451-4946