ST. PAUL, MN., Feb. 19, 2015- The nation’s leading agricultural co-op, CHS, announced that it will distribute an estimated $518 million to farmers, ranchers and cooperatives – extending a record of what it described as “significant cash returns to owners.”

The 2015 cash distribution is based on CHS net income of $1.1 billion, the company's second highest on record, for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2014. Over the past six years, CHS has returned more than $2.6 billion in cash to its agricultural producer and member cooperative owners, an amount equal to that returned during the over 33 fiscal years prior from 1977 through 2009.

"The ability of our owners, who are also our customers, to directly share in the financial success of CHS is a distinct advantage of being part of a cooperative business," said David Bielenberg, CHS Board chairman and a Silverton, Ore., farmer, in a release. "And, this is cash that returns to local communities, enabling farmers, ranchers and cooperatives to invest in their own futures."

Bielenberg added that the CHS Board, which consists of 17 producers, strives to "take the long view" in regard to the company's future balancing significant investments in the company's future, direct cash returns to owners and a commitment to maintaining a strong balance sheet.

"It's about making sure that we're not only serving our owners and other customers with the products, services and marketing opportunities they need today, we're investing in what they'll need years and even decades from now," he added.

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The distribution beginning this month to about 1,100 member cooperatives and nearly 59,000 individual members and others includes cash patronage paid based on their fiscal 2014 business with CHS. CHS is also distributing cash to member cooperatives that redeems equity in the company they earned in prior years. In addition, CHS will redeem equities of eligible individual members throughout 2015 and also will pay quarterly dividends to owners of its five classes of CHS preferred stock.

Patronage is based on business done with CHS by member-owner cooperatives and individual farmers and ranchers during fiscal 2014, while equity redemptions and preferred stock distributions represent retirement of ownership in CHS earned in past years. Distributions by state were:

State

Number of checks to

member co-ops,

individual members

and others

Total cash patronage

and equity redemptions

Alabama

14

$428,000

Alaska

15

7,700

Arizona

99

88,000

Arkansas

67

4.7 million

California

235

129,000

Colorado

2,842

10 million

Connecticut

7

1,000

Delaware

1

190

Florida

58

16,000

Georgia

24

30,600

Hawaii

8

2,500

Idaho

1,701

4.7 million

Illinois

1,043

8.3 million

Indiana

235

3.9 million

Iowa

1,398

28.2 million

Kansas

1,823

29.2 million

Kentucky

7

668,000

Louisiana

37

483,400

Maine

4

590

Maryland

11

2,400

Massachusetts

11

6,200

Michigan

567

1.9 million

Minnesota

14,052

58.5 million

Mississippi

72

1 million

Missouri

216

11.5 million

Montana

7,122

19.1 million

Nebraska

2,846

27.3 million

Nevada

16

18,200

New Hampshire

3

770

New Jersey

4

780

New Mexico

36

25,400

New York

25

43,300

North Carolina

17

3,600

North Dakota

12,699

71.5 million

Ohio

77

2.3 million

Oklahoma

828

6.5 million

Oregon

427

3.3 million

Pennsylvania

10

2,540

South Carolina

8

3,300

South Dakota

8,777

30.2 million

Tennessee

20

976,100

Texas

1,040

4.8 million

Utah

27

94,800

Virginia

27

103,800

Washington

2,540

8.4 million

West Virginia

3

620

Wisconsin

1,904

32.9 million

Wyoming

66

1.8 million

 

#30

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