Meeting Competitive Challenges:
Cooperative Structure and Finance for the Future
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Focus on Structure
| Noon - 1:00 | Registration and Light Lunch |
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| 1:00 - 2:00 | Trends in the Global Marketplace |
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| Focus on agriculture in the global economy. |
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| Terry Barr, Senior Director of Industry Research, Knowledge Exchange Division, CoBank |
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| 2:00 - 3:00 | A Perspective on Global Challenge |
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| Concerns about sovereign food security are leading to a focus on ownership and control of food-related infrastructure. Cooperatives
are facing fast-paced changes in the control of global transportation, terminals and other assets. |
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| Mark Palmquist, Executive Vice President, CHS, Inc. |
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| 3:30 - 5:15 | Cooperatives in an Era of Consolidation |
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| What is driving structural change? How are cooperatives reacting? (Joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions of private companies and
cooperatives, regionalization, new businesses) |
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| Moderator: Brent Hueth, Associate Professor & Director, University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives |
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| Jeff Nielsen, General Manager, United Farmers Cooperative |
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| Sam Skemp, General Manager, Frontier FS Cooperative |
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| Rich Vanderpool, General Manager, Sunrise Ag Service |
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| 6:30 – 8:30 | Dinner and Program |
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| Ethanol: A Cautionary Tale |
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| C. Ford Runge, Distinguished McKnight Professor of Applied Economics & Law, University of Minnesota |
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Friday, November 4, 2011
Focus on Finance
| 7:00 – 8:00 | Continental Breakfast |
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| 8:00 – 8:40 | Innovative Approaches to Finance: Banker Perspective |
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| Mike Hechtner will provide a banker perspective on what to expect in the credit markets and how borrowers can deal with a high risk environment such as
commodity price volatility in a changing credit marketplace to keep businesses strong and bankers happy. |
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| Moderator: Michael Boland, Professor and Koller Chair, University of Minnesota |
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| Michael Hechtner, Central Region President, Regional Agribusiness Banking Group, CoBank |
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| 8:40 – 9:20 | Innovative Approaches to Finance: Educator Perspective |
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| An overview of a field-tested, widely used decision-making framework for choosing the best strategies for income distribution and equity management. Innovative approaches include non-qualified distributions,
transitions from age of patron to revolving fund redemptions and utilization of the Section 199 Deduction (Domestic Production Activities Deduction). |
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| David Barton, Professor and Director Emeritus, Arthur Capper Cooperative Center, Kansas State University |
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| 9:20 – 10:00 | Innovative Approaches to Finance: Tax Accountant Perspective |
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| Teree Castanias will build on Barton's framework, with a discussion of Section 199 utilization, book versus tax accounting, patronage and non-patronage treatment of earnings,
income distribution and equity management alternatives and consequences, and fair value accounting impacts. |
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| Teree Castanias, CPA, Consultant and Tax Accountant |
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| 10:30 – Noon | Innovative Approaches to Finance: Case Studies |
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| CPI is a grain marketing and farm supply local co-op that engaged the Arthur Capper Cooperative Center in 2009 to help them evaluate their income distribution and equity management program. It had become unusually complex following several mergers.
Bob Fifield and Teree Castanias will describe their decisions to phase out existing programs, and institute the nonqualified patronage distribution method. |
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| Moderator: David Barton, Professor and Director Emeritus, Arthur Capper Cooperative Center, Kansas State University |
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| Bob Fifield, CEO, Cooperative Producers, Inc. |
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| Tom Houser, Vice President, Lead Relationship Manager, Regional Agribusiness Group, CoBank |
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| Teree Castanias, CPA, Consultant and Tax Accountant |
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| 1:00 – 2:30 | Meeting the Challenges of Risk for Cooperatives and their Members |
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| Cooperatives face a balancing act as risk is driven down the supply chain. What tools can they offer to support members’ risk management? |
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| Tom Neher, Vice President, Agribusiness, AgStar |
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| Steve Watrin, Manager, Risk Management, Land O'Lakes |
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