Co-ops contend suit filed in haste

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Two grain cooperatives among six that own Team Marketing Alliance say they are supportive of TMA despite a Feb. 2 lawsuit filed by three other owner cooperatives that seeks to dissolve TMA.

“Mid-Kansas Cooperative and Producer Ag are fully supportive today of the mission and strategy of TMA, a grain marketing and risk management company serving agricultural customers,” said Nichole Gouldie, communications director for MKC.

Before Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company, Cooperative Grain and Supply, and Central Prairie Co-op filed the petition in court, MKC and Producer Ag offered to mediate.

Farmers Cooperative, Cooperative Grain and Supply, and Central Prairie Co-op rejected the compromise, MKC CEO Brad Stedman said.

“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.”

Gouldie said MKC and Producer Ag together own 75% of TMA.

“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,” Stedman said. “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.”

TMA was formed in 2000 to help farmers by combining crop insurance, crop inputs and grain marketing, Stedman said.

The company markets grain and builds relationships with buyers. Stedman said TMA has sold millions of bushels of grain and returned $281 million to the cooperatives that own it.