The 91st Annual Meeting of Crystal Valley Cooperative was held Tuesday evening, January 30, 2018, at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato. There was a nice crowd of more than 250 people in attendance. Dennis Gardiner, auditor with Gardiner Thomsen CPA’s from Des Moines, Iowa, presented the fiscal year 2017 financial report. Total sales for the year were $258.8 million with $3,023,884 in local net savings, and a bottom line net savings after taxes of $4,302,807.
Chairman Dan Jones gave the Director’s report and General Manager Roger Kienholz gave his Manager’s report on the year’s performance. Chairman Jones reviewed the bylaw amendment that raised the minimum amount of patronage business required for producer member voting eligibility from $5,000 to $10,000 annually. This amendment stood without opposition and became effective on February 1, 2018. The results of the Director elections were announced with incumbents Bryon Christenson, Tim Lewer, and Gene Meyer being re-elected without opposition.
Immediately following the annual meeting, the board held its reorganizational meeting with the following officers selected to serve one-year terms: Dan Jones as Chairman, Mark Eggimann as Vice-Chairman, and Tim Lewer as Secretary-Treasurer.
The winter quarter (Dec-Jan-Feb) seems to be the season for meetings in the co-op world. Your board of directors attended several events for training, development and networking with peers and industry representatives over these past few months.
In early December, the entire board attended the CHS Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. Due to some significant losses in several of its business units, CHS announced that there would be no patronage dividends paid for FY2017 business, and no equity revolvement to member cooperatives in 2018.
Several board members attended Director Development Workshops sponsored by Land O’ Lakes and the University of Minnesota in early January. March was busy as well, with a three-day board and staff planning retreat, the Minnesota Grain & Feed Association Annual Meeting and Convention, and the regional CoBank Customer Meeting in Minneapolis.
Many of you attended the Crystal Valley Winter Conference held at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato on February 21. Agronomy, Energy, Feed and Grain topics were discussed in the breakout sessions, along with agricultural vendors on hand to visit with customers and answer any questions. There was something there for everybody and, in my opinion, this was as good of a winter producer meeting that I can remember attending. There was a lot of good, useful information presented in a very professional manner by the employees of Crystal Valley. Thank you and congratulations to everyone that had a part in planning this conference.
Winter is giving way to Spring, and our thoughts are turning from planning to planting. So, everyone, please be safe during this upcoming busy season. Let’s hope Mother Nature works with us this year. Thank you for your business!
Have a great spring!
View News