Meet Our 2021 Summer Interns

Jacob Gillespie is a junior at South Dakota State University and is currently majoring in Precision Agriculture and Agronomy. He grew up an a farm outside of Clinton, MN and has worked at Bauers Countryside Ag as well as the Soil and Water Conservation Department. He hopes to one day pursue a career in wild rice agronomy in Northern Minnesota.

Jessica Fenhaus attended Lake Area Technical College for two years and has received her Associates of Science Degree in Ag Business. She plans on continuing her education at South Dakota State University this fall, majoring in Agronomy. Although this is her first summer working for CHS, she has had previous experience working at Wilbur Ellis and on the farm with her dad.

In her internship, she has already learned so much. As summer comes, she is ready to get more involved in scouting and learning as much as she can from the agronomists in her area. She enjoys getting to go to the different locations and seeing the different methods and aspects of the business and farming sides.

Karmen Sperr grew up in Donnelly, MN on her family’s farm where they grow corn, soybeans, and wheat and they also raise pigs. Karmen graduated from Morris Area in High School in 2020 where she was actively involved in FFA. She was also very involved in the Stevens County 4-H program for 13 years. FFA and 4-H are really what drove her passion for agriculture and her decision to major in Agricultural Communications and Agricultural Leadership with a minor in Animal Science at South Dakota State University. In college, Karmen is involved in the Sigma Alpha Sorority, Collegiate Farm Bureau, Swine Club, Prexy Council, Little International, Student’s Association Senate, and the CAFES Ambassador Program. Karmen enjoys many aspects of the ag industry and hopes to one day be an advocate for the industry by working for a commodity group in the Midwest.

Karmen is very excited for her internship this summer and she is excited to see what she can learn in her experiences to strengthen her knowledge about the ag industry.

Moriah Tamilin is currently double majoring in Biology and Chemistry at the University of Central Florida, and she is looking to switch to a more agriculture-focused program in the fall semester. Her experience lies in Horticulture and Landscaping, but she has been given an incredible introduction to the Ag industry through CHS. She says that “the learning opportunity the CHS has granted in this internship has been both overwhelming and fulfilling.”

Moriah is passionate about learning more regarding soil science and soil health. She is particularly fascinated in exploring the efficacy of bioremediation methods. Though it may be years away, she is curious in how bioremediation methods will be made accessible to growers with a limited ability to invest.

Consolidation Announcement

As CHS continues to strategically align our cooperative, we are advancing an integrated, enterprise product line and supply chain to bring one consistent approach to our customers and farmer-owners. To accomplish this, the producer boards and management teams of CHS Prairie Lakes and CHS based in Herman, Minnesota have made the decision to consolidate the two business units within CHS.

The two CHS business units have complimentary locations and other operational efficiencies and jointly leveraging our business, assets, products and services will create value for our owners while improving services and offerings to better serve customers. The energy teams began working together this year and have discovered significant opportunities for growth and improved customer service through this partnership. We look forward to scaling that success to other core areas.

Tentative plan is to finalize consolidation by fiscal year end on Aug. 31, 2021. Carl Younce, interim general manager of CHS Prairie Lakes, will continue through the end of May. At that time, Jerry Kramer, current general manager of CHS in Herman, will take over management responsibilities for both business units and serve as the general manager of the combined business. Our goal is to determine the rest of the senior leadership team for the new consolidated business unit by the end of fiscal year 2021.

This consolidation allows us to deliver on Country Operations strategy by streamlining our services and offerings while capitalizing on economies of scale and more efficient use of assets and resources across the expanded geographical territory.

As our customers and owners, you should see little change in how you interact with CHS on a day-to-day business as we will be offering all the same products and services you expect and need from us.

Our focus continues to be on delivering solutions to you that make it easy, helpful and rewarding to do business with CHS.

Thank you for your support,
Steven Deal, Chair, CHS based in Herman, Minnesota & Brian Jergenson, Chair, CHS Prairie Lakes

CHS Reports Fiscal 2021 Second-Quarter Results

CHS Inc., the nation’s leading agribusiness cooperative, today released results for its fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 28, 2021. The company reported a net loss of $38.2 million versus net income of $125.4 million in the same quarter in fiscal 2020. Significant year-over-year earnings increases in Ag and Nitrogen Production segments and Corporate and Other businesses were offset primarily by ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts in Energy.

“Improved trade relations between the United States and foreign trade partners combined with our operating efficiency initiatives led to record grain and oilseed volume increases and continued price gains, significantly improving our Ag segment earnings over the prior year,” said Jay Debertin, president and CEO of CHS Inc. “Additionally, favorable growing conditions and overall strength in agriculture, helped drive demand for crop inputs, including crop nutrients and crop protection products and services.

“Our Energy segment, while showing improvement over the previous quarter, continues to experience unfavorable refined fuels market conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and exceptionally higher costs for renewable energy credits. These factors resulted in volume and margin declines that significantly reduced earnings compared to the prior year.”

Fiscal 2021 second-quarter results reflect: 

  • Revenues of $8.3 billion versus $6.6 billion in fiscal 2020 second quarter, a 26.1% increase. 
  • Energy segment impacts that include:  
    • Continued low refining margins stemming from COVID-19-impacts on global energy demand.
    • Exceptionally high costs of renewable energy credits, which decreased margins.
    • Decreased propane margins and volumes due to warm winter weather conditions across the CHS trade territory during most of the fiscal 2021 second quarter.
    • Modest improvements over fiscal 2021 first quarter as volumes and margins began to rebound. 
  • Ag segment impacts that include:  
    • Favorable weather conditions and improved relations between the U.S. and foreign trade partners, including China, that increased volumes of grain and oilseed commodities as well as feed and farm supplies.
    • Higher margins for certain agricultural products, including processing and food ingredients, which improved because of soybean crush strength.
  • Enterprisewide initiatives that include:  
    • Focused cost-reduction initiatives launched in fiscal 2021 that helped reduce marketing, general and administrative costs.
    • COVID-19-related working arrangements and increased hygiene and infection-control processes to mitigate risk and support business continuity – all CHS operations were deemed to be essential infrastructure industries by federal and state governments.

For the six-month period ending Feb. 28, 2021, CHS reported net income of $31.4 million versus $303.3 million for the same period in fiscal 2020. Revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2021 rose to $17.0 billion, a $2.8 billion, or 19.8%, increase from $14.2 billion in the same period the previous year.

“I am encouraged by the resilience of our employees and their commitment to owners in what continues to be a challenging operating environment,” said Debertin. “We are cautiously optimistic about the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and other progress being made in response to the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world and the potential impact on our domestic and global businesses.

“As we look ahead to the second half of fiscal 2021, we remain committed to protecting the financial health of CHS, adding efficiency throughout our enterprise to benefit owners and customers, and caring for those who depend on us as we continue creating connections to empower agriculture.”

CHS income chart

This document and other CHS Inc. publicly available documents contain, and CHS officers 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 Report 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, 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. 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, 2020. 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.

Danger within: Know the risks of grain bin entry

Since 2014, Nationwide and partners including CHS, have provided 150 rescue tubes and grain bin safety training to local fire departments across 29 states to help keep farmers safe.

The interior of a grain bin is one of the most hazardous places on a farm, so the best way to resolve situations with stored grain is safely outside. If you must enter a bin, be sure to know what you might find and plan accordingly.

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Introducing an easier way to pay CHS

Farmer viewing CHS Pay Online screen on tablet

Pay Online is now available through the MyCHS app.

With Pay Online, anyone who has signed up for MyCHS can now easily pay statements or current balances securely from single or multiple bank accounts, view scheduled payments, and look up past online payments.

Pay Online saves you time and money as you no longer need to write and mail checks. Find the Pay Online feature in the lower-left hand corner. It’s easy to set up bank accounts so gather up your bank account number and routing number to get started today!

If you have not yet signed up for MyCHS, go to mychs.chsinc.com to register.

Questions or comments, email MyCHS@chsinc.com or call 800-548-9727.

Dicamba Training

If you are in need of dicamba training for the upcoming growing season, online training registration is now available.

Refer to your specific state and local requirements to ensure compliance.

If you’re still in need of locking in orders of dicamba products for the 2021 growing season, contact one of our Agronomy Sales Representatives for assistance.

CHS to host February-March educational grain webinar series

CHS is kicking off the new year with a series of educational grain marketing webinars.

Tune in to hear from grain experts across CHS as they dive into all aspects of grain marketing, from futures to basis and all things in between. They will also be discussing grain marketing contracts and the benefits and strategies behind each type. All of this is designed to help you get the most out of every bushel.

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CHS reports $69.7 million in first quarter fiscal 2021 net income

Farm equipment in field during harvest

On Jan., 6, 2021, CHS Inc., reported net income of $69.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 that ended Nov. 30, 2020. This compares to net income of $177.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.

The results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 reflect:

  • Revenues of $8.7 billion compared to revenues of $7.6 billion for the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.
  • Impacts in the CHS Energy segment that included:
    • Exceptionally low crack spreads and other unfavorable market conditions in our refined fuels business, driven primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in volume and price declines that significantly reduced earnings in our Energy segment compared to the same period of the prior year.
    • Decreased propane demand that resulted from warmer and drier fall weather during the first quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to the same period of the prior year.
  • Impacts in the CHS Ag segment that included:
    • Improved relations between the United States and foreign trading partners that drove increased volumes and margins for grain and oilseed.
    • Favorable weather conditions during fall harvest compared to the prior year that drove increased volumes and margins across much of our Ag segment.

“Our employees’ commitment throughout the first quarter allowed us to consistently deliver products and services to our owners and customers around the world,” said Jay Debertin, president and CEO of CHS Inc. “A good growing season led to a good harvest season, and we saw commodity price rallies from spring and summer carry into fall. Those good weather conditions led to the highest volume fall fertilizer season we’ve seen since 2013 despite volatility in the nitrogen and phosphate markets.

“Improved trade opportunities with China and improved trade activity in Europe and Africa helped drive first quarter improvement in our global grain business. Our animal nutrition volumes also saw growth in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021,” Debertin said. “We saw year-over-year increases in premium diesel sales with rural America continuing to rely on us for their energy needs. However, our overall Energy segment experienced ongoing challenges on refined fuels margins as the pandemic continues to challenge the energy industry. Throughout the remainder of our fiscal year, we will remain focused on our key priorities including protecting the financial health of CHS, caring for those who depend on us and bringing efficiencies to how we run our businesses and deliver products.”

CHS Inc. Earnings by Segment balance sheet

This document and other CHS Inc. publicly available documents contain, and CHS officers 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 Report 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, 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. 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, 2020. 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.

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