Majority owners committed to future of TMA

MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. - With 20 years of history, Mid-Kansas Cooperative (MKC) and Producer Ag, LLC (Producer Ag) are fully supportive today of the mission and strategy of Team Marketing Alliance, LLC (TMA), a grain marketing and risk management company serving agricultural customers. MKC and Producer Ag are majority owners of TMA with approximately 75% ownership.
 
"We are committed to TMA's goal of delivering value-added solutions to our customers and their operations to reduce their risk and increase revenue," said Brad Stedman, president and CEO, MKC. "By all measures, TMA has been a successful business over the past 20 years and will continue that success into the future focusing on new markets, risk management and technology."
 
Founded in 2000, TMA was formed to help farmers protect their revenue and preserve equity by combining crop insurance, crop inputs and grain marketing. The company is focused on collectively marketing grain for the owner-members and building relationships with end-users. Over the past 20 years, TMA has returned over $281 million to its owner-members. The company has marketed millions of grain bushels to end-users through truck and rail distribution channels.
 
On February 2, 2021, three minority owners of TMA filed a district court petition to dissolve TMA. Prior to this petition, MKC and Producer Ag offered to mediate this matter in good faith. The minority owners requested changes in TMA's earnings distribution calculation after approving 16 consecutive distributions in prior years. The majority owners offered to distribute earnings consistent with the past unanimously approved calculations and allow the minority owners to reserve any legal claims that they might have that the distributions should be calculated differently. But the minority owners rejected the majority owners' compromise and insisted that their calculation be adopted. Independent auditors approved by all TMA owners have conducted annual audits and have reported no discrepancies in the financial statements, including the distribution calculations. Instead of utilizing the procedures in TMA's operating agreement that would have allowed the parties to resolve their dispute regarding the distributions, the minority owners have rushed to court and seek to tear down TMA, as opposed to merely seeking to resolve the distribution issue.
 
"It is unfortunate the minority owners of TMA have filed a dissolution petition that seeks their exit from TMA," Stedman said. "Their actions are disruptive to their farmer-members' access to services that TMA's owners do not have access to independently."
 
"TMA has not only contributed to the success of our local cooperative but also our farmer customers and member-owners," said Allan Wegner, a farmer near Onaga, KS, and MKC Board of Directors chairman. "As board chairman, it is my role to help preserve the equity of our cooperative and help bring value to farmers and ranchers, and TMA has done both."
   
About MKC
MKC (Mid Kansas Cooperative) is a full-service farm cooperative offering a complete line of products, programs and services for both farm and urban customers throughout Kansas. With a current membership of nearly 10,000 members, MKC specializes in grain, agronomy, energy, feed and risk management. More than 375 employees play an important role in the growth and success of the cooperative. Since its' founding in 1965, MKC has expanded its footprint through mergers and acquisitions to meet customers' needs.  Learn more about MKC at www.mkcoop.com and follow the MKC story on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
About Producer Ag
Producer Ag is a limited liability company owned by CHS Inc. and MKC. Producer Ag leases high-speed shuttle loading facilities to TMA in Canton, KS, and Milan, KS. Producer Ag is a member of TMA.

For media inquires, pleaes contact Nichole Gouldie at 620-386-4895 or ngouldie@mkcoop.com.

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