NEWSLINE
Ocean Spray and Pepsi extend distribution agreement
Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. and Pepsi-Cola
Company have extended their agreement covering distribution of single-serve Ocean Spray
fruit juices and juice drinks in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, Pepsi Cola
Bottling Company and individual independent Pepsi franchise bottlers will continue to
distribute Ocean Spray single-serve beverages to supermarkets, convenience stores, vending
machines, and other retail outlets for at least three more years. The extension sets the
stage for what both companies hope will be a more lasting relationship.
During the past six years of the Ocean
Spray/Pepsi alliance, Ocean Spray has risen from the sixth biggest player in single-serve
juices and drinks to No. 2. The Ocean Spray/Pepsi alliance sells more than $350 million in
product in North America.
Ocean Spray, the market leader in canned and
bottled fruit juices and drinks, is a grower-owned cooperative of 950 cranberry and citrus
growers. The co-op is headquartered in Lakeville-Middleboro, Mass. Pepsi-Cola Company,
headquartered in Somers, N.Y, is the global beverage division of PepsiCo, Inc.
Dakota Growers details Primo Piatto purchase
Dakota Growers Pasta Company of Carrington, N.D., paid $11 million in cash and 30,000 shares of convertible preferred stock to acquire Primo Piatto, Inc., a Minneapolis-based pasta producer, in February 1998. In a March 11 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dakota Growers said the total number of convertible preferred shares would be reduced if the net debt of Primo Piatto is found to be in excess of $8 million. If the net debt is found to be less than that amount, the cash portion of the purchase price will increase. The acquisition was funded by a loan from the St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives.
Agri-Mark records record year of profit
Agri-Mark's 1997 year-end profit amounted to
$5.4 million after taxes, a record amount for the New England dairy cooperative, its
president and general manager Paul R Johnson announced January 29, 1998.
The figure is more than twice the level of the
profit recorded in 1996. Much of the profit was generated from the sale of the co-op's
Cabot brand of dairy products.
The record profit level is in addition to the
$10 million in Northeast Dairy Compact payments and almost $6 million in over-order
premiums that Agri-Mark paid in cash to members in 1997
AMPI announces strong performance
North Central AMPI reported an $8.7-million
margin at its annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., March 26-29, 1998.
The meeting marked the first time cooperative
members have gathered since the January 1998 separation of AMPI's Southern and North
Central regions. AMPI is now a Midwest based dairy cooperative.
The co-op, based in New Ulm, Minn., had 1997
dairy product sales of $900 million.
North Central AMPI general manager Mark Furth
told the 500 attendees that the cooperative's operational results were some of the best on
record. About 85 percent of members' 4.4 billion pounds of milk were made into dairy
products. Of those, more than half were sold as consumer-packaged products.
North Central AMPI is made up of 5,000 dairy
farms in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. The co-op
has 13 manufacturing plants.
CoBank reports 1997 net income of $147 million
CoBank has reported another strong year of
financial performance with net income of $147 million for 1997, an increase from the 1996
total of $135 million. In other financial indicators, CoBank's assets totaled $18.9
billion at year-end 1997, compared to $18.2 billion at year-end 1996. Loans outstanding
totaled $15.1 billion at year-end 1997, compared to $14.8 billion at year-end 1996. While
domestic lending grew, international loan volume decreased due to heightened competition
and fewer opportunities in government guaranteed lending programs in traditional markets.
CoBank, based in Denver, Colo., is a
$19-billion internationally recognized cooperative bank serving U.S agriculture and rural
America.
Prairie Farms Dairy reports record earnings
Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. of Carlinville,
Ill., reported its 1997 fiscal year sales and earnings reached an all-time high.
Earnings for the year hit $44.5 million, an
increase of 37 percent, or $12.5 million, over 1996 earnings. Sales rose to $884 million,
4 percent over the previous year. Patronage for 1997 was also a record $27.8 million, or
$2.25 per hundredweight of milk marketed through the cooperative. Members received 55
percent of their patronage as cash, or $1.23 per hundredweight of milk.
Prairie Farms Dairy represents milk producers
in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Nebraska.
Darigold, Inc. names Mueller as new CEO
The board of directors of Darigold, Inc. has
chosen John E. Mueller as the dairy cooperative's new chief executive officer. Mueller is
a 25-year food industry veteran who has domestic and international experience in
developing consumer branded products. While president and CEO of Unilever's U.S.
subsidiary, Van den Bergh Foods, Mueller was responsible for several brands.
Former Darigold CEO Wes Eckert announced last
October that he would retire this spring.
Darigold is the processing and marketing arm of
Darigold Farms, a 900-member dairy cooperative serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and
California.
AgFirst Farm Credit Bank restructures, names new division heads
Andy Lowrey, president and CEO of AgFirst
Farm Credit Bank (AgFirst), recently announced that he has restructured the bank's major
functions with Larry R. Doyle heading up the Lending Operations Division as executive vice
president and chief lending operations officer and Tom S. Welsh heading up the
Administrative Division as executive vice president and chief administrative and
legislative officer.
Larry R. Doyle began his Farm Credit career in
1975 with Edisto Farm Credit in St. Matthews and was vice president and branch manager
when he left in December 1979 to go with Tri-County Electric Cooperative in St. Matthews.
From August 1980 until April 1986, he served in positions of increasing responsibility
with the Columbia Bank for Cooperatives, Columbia, S.C.
Doyle became senior vice president and chief
lending and treasury officer of AgFirst in January 1996. Prior to that, he was vice
president and treasurer of AgFirst. Doyle received his B.S. degree in business
administration, finance and his master of business administration in finance from the
University of South Carolina.
Tom S. Welsh has been an agricultural banker
since 1972, when he entered the management training program at the Farm Credit Bank of
Columbia. In 1974, Welsh was named president of the Orangeburg, S.C., Production Credit
Association. Four years later, he returned to Columbia as marketing officer of the bank.
In 1989, he was named head of the bank's Marketing Division and was promoted to senior
vice president in 1996.
Welsh graduated from Clemson University with a
B.S. degree in agricultural education and recently graduated from the Executive Program at
the University of North Carolina. He is a U.S.Army veteran.
AgFirst Farm Credit Bank is part of the Farm
Credit System and is a financial intermediary with assets of more than $10 billion. It
provides loan funds and banking services to 39 farmer-owned Agricultural Credit
Associations (ACAs) in 12 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and a Production
Credit Association (PCA) serving Alabama, Mississippi and most of Louisiana. In addition
to the associations, the bank serves three other financing institutions (OFIs).
The associations are member-owned financial
cooperatives that serve about 100,000 farmers, ranchers and growers of agricultural
commodities, rural homeowners, aquatic producers and agribusiness firms.
Company plans TV Rural News Co-op
Television is now the No. 1 source for news
in the nation. And rural Montana, like most rural areas, doesn't get much TV coverage. A
new cooperative venture, initiated by a Great Falls company, Mr. Video, may fill that
void.
Mr. Video, headed by former Great Falls
television anchor Dave Sheehan, hopes to enlist rural schools, businesses and cooperatives
to help establish a Rural News Co-op (RNC). Under the plan, students from local schools
will receive training in television reporting. Afterwards, they'll cover news events and
offer their tapes - for a fee - to Montana television stations. Participating schools
would give the students credit for their work.
"This would be an educational
exercise," says Sheehan. "And TV stations want the coverage. They just can't
afford to send staff out in the countryside to do it."
Sheehan said some Great Falls area schools have
already shown interest in the project, but he thinks the network will eventually be able
to grow statewide.
"After identifying the rural school
districts interested in participating, RNC will explore ways of securing broadcast quality
video gear for its network of stringers, primarily high school juniors and seniors,"
Sheehan says. "The stringers will attend a free one-day seminar in Great Falls to
learn the basics of broadcast news and the requirements of RNC. In addition, they will
maintain weekly contact with Mr. Video, which has a combined 22 years' experience in
broadcast news."
After gathering news
footage, students will send unedited videotape to Mr. Video for editing and distribution
to TV stations. Participating TV stations will pay a nominal subscription fee in order to
receive the tapes.
"RNC will require funding to operate,
especially in the beginning," says Sheehan. He hopes organizations and businesses
around the state, including electric cooperatives, will help get the educational
cooperative started with donations to buy broadcast equipment for schools and for
operational expenses for the first year. The donations will make them members of RNC. The
first year's budget is estimated at $16,600. Sheehan says the co-op should eventually
become financially self-sufficient.
For more information about RNC, call Sheehan at
(406) 761-6346 or toll-free at (800) 260-3489. He can also be reached by e-mail at
mrvideo@initco.net.
Cenex Harvest States unification set
The members of CENEX, Inc., and Harvest
States Cooperatives have overwhelmingly approved the unification of the two companies to
form Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives, one of the nation's largest farmer-owned co-ops.
The unification will take effect June 1, 1998.
Eighty-eight percent of Cenex members and 91 percent of Harvest States casting ballots
voted in favor of creating a farmer-owned company spanning the full range of food
production from inputs to processing and marketing to consumer products. Results of the
membership vote were announced following special meetings April 15 of both Harvest States
and Cenex. Approval of two-thirds of those voting in both cooperatives was required for
passage.
"The producers who own these two
cooperatives have spoken out on this historic day," said Harvest States chairman
Gerald Kuster of Reynolds, N.D. "Clearly they see the advantage and opportunity
created by combining two highly successful farmer-owned businesses."
Cenex chairman Elroy Webster of Nicollet,
Minn., said, "As a combined organization, our goal will be to help farmers succeed in
an increasingly competitive, rapidly changing global food system. Together, we can help
our member-owners compete by providing the best in inputs, services, marketing and
value-added processing." Highlights of the unification include:
• Board of Directors. Initially, Cenex Harvest States will be governed by a 27-member board: the combination of the current 13-member Cenex Board and the 14-member Harvest States Board. It will serve until the Cenex Harvest States annual meeting, which takes place in December 1999. At that meeting, the board will be reduced in size to 17 directors. Kuster and Webster will jointly serve as the co-op's Office of the Chair until the annual meeting in 1999. Other board officers will be elected at the new organization's first board meeting after the June 1, 1998, effective date.
• Management. Current Cenex president and chief executive officer Noel Estenson will become CEO of Cenex Harvest States and will serve until December 31, 2000. Current Harvest States president and CEO John Johnson will be president and general manager until Estenson's retirement, at which time Johnson will become CEO.
• Location. The current Cenex office in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., will become the headquarters of the new company. Harvest States employees currently based at its Falcon Heights, Minn., headquarters will relocate to the Inver Grove Heights facility over a period of several months.
• Equity. All stock, non-stock and patronage equity interests of each member of
Cenex and Harvest States will become non-stock equity and patronage interests in Cenex
Harvest States on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
Under the plan, the 11-year-old Cenex
joint venture with Land O'Lakes, Inc., in the Cenex/Land O'Lakes Agronomy Company, will
continue. Cenex Harvest States will own 50 percent of the joint venture, with Land O'Lakes
holding the remaining half interest.
Historically, the companies have a long
working relationship. Harvest States ranks as one of Cenex/Land O'Lakes Agronomy Company's
largest customers for products sold through Harvest States-owned country elevator
locations. Cenex, Harvest States and Land O'Lakes also are involved in a joint venture
providing insurance and other risk management products to co-ops and agribusiness.
In addition, both companies have many members
in common in a geographic area extending from the Upper Midwest, across the Northern,
Central and Southern Plains states to the Pacific Northwest.
Because there is minimal overlap in operating
areas, the two companies said the unification is expected to have little, if any, impact
on jobs. Cenex employs 2,500 people, including about 400 at its Inver Grove Heights
headquarters. Harvest States' main office in Falcon Heights also has some 400 employees,
with approximately 2,500 in all its locations.
Cenex and Harvest States operations cover
the farm-to-market spectrum. With strengths in refined fuels, plant food, crop protection
products, lubricants, propane, tires, vehicle accessories, and information and services
technology, Cenex had 1997 revenues of $2.9 billion. Harvest States is the nation's
largest cooperative grain marketer and is involved in flour milling, soybean
processing/refining, and food product manufacturing and packaging. It also provides farm
supplies and a range of business services to its member-producers and cooperatives,
respectively. Revenues for its fiscal year ending May 31, 1997, totaled $7.1 billion.
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