Golden Growers Cooperative will hold its Annual Members Meeting on Thursday, March 20th at the Doubletree Conference Center, 825 E Beaton Drive, West Fargo, ND

Director Election

Our current director up for re-election for 3-year terms is: David Kragnes, Felton, MN (North District). Brett Johnson, Mooreton, ND (Central District) and Matt Hasbargen, Breckenridge, MN (At-Large Director) have both reached their term limit and are ineligible to be re-elected. Therefore, three-year terms are open for the Central District and an At-Large Director position on the Board.

Glenn Johnson, Mayville, ND submitted a petition as for the At-Large Director position being vacated by Matt Hasbargen and Chris Johnson, Wahpeton, ND submitted a petition for the Central District position being vacated by Brett Johnson.

2025 Annual Meeting Notice, Ballot & Report – What to Expect

This year, we will mail our ‘Annual Meeting and Election Booklet’ that will contain the Annual Meeting Notice, Minutes from the 2024 Annual Meeting; a Message from our Chairman, Brett Johnson, Director Candidate Biographies, and the Election Ballot. The booklet will include 2024 Financial Highlights and identify where the detailed Annual Report can be found on the Golden Growers website as soon as the audit report becomes available. This change will assure that members will receive their election ballot in time to return it before the annual meeting.

Recently, Golden Growers announced that Cargill will purchase our interest in ProGold, LLC at the end of 2026 when the ProGold lease with Cargill expires. Because of a two-year timeline to fully dissolve and to avoid excess operating costs, the 2025 ballot will also include a vote on a resolution to ratify the sale and to notify the MN Secretary of State (where GGC is registered) of our intent to dissolve. If the resolution is approved, the clock will start on that two-year timeline.

Chairman Brett Johnson’s message to Golden Growers members will explain the circumstances that led to announced sale of our interest in the ProGold corn milling facility to Cargill at the end of 2026 and what this sale will mean to Golden Growers members. Johnson will explain why the Board proposed the dissolution resolution. “We know that our members have many questions, but we want them to know what to expect in the next two years.”

Many of those questions are answered in the notice of Annual Meeting mailed on March 4th. In addition, a list of Questions and Answers about Cargill’s purchase of GGC’s interest in ProGold can be found under the Member Information tab here.

Election Ballots

Members must separate their ballot from the booklet, place the ballot in the blank envelope and then into the ballot return envelope addressed to Eide Bailly, LLP. To assure your vote is counted, write your member number and sign on the back of the ballot return envelope.

Golden Growers announces Cargill’s Intention for ProGold Buyout in Late 2026

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December 20, 2024 – West Fargo, ND

Golden Growers Cooperative and Cargill Inc. announced today that Cargill will buy out Golden Growers Cooperative’s interest in ProGold LLC at the end of the current lease which concludes on December 31, 2026.

ProGold LLC owns a corn wet milling plant in Wahpeton, ND that Cargill has been leasing since 1997.  In 2022, Cargill purchased 50% interest in ProGold from American Crystal Sugar and became 50/50 owners with Golden Growers Cooperative.  At the same time, Cargill and Golden Growers established certain conditions that would need to be met with an intention of forming a long-term joint venture. Due to the economic environment in the past three years, it has become clear that those conditions are unable to be achieved.  Cargill has informed Golden Growers that they will work with the Cooperative on proceeding with the buyout of Golden Growers interest in ProGold LLC at the end of the lease period.

“Over the past 28 years, Cargill has been a trusted partner for Golden Growers and our farmer members.  While we would have preferred to maintain a long-term interest in the plant, we understand that circumstances beyond our control have limited our ability to accomplish that goal,” stated Golden Growers Chairman Brett Johnson. “Our cooperative and its members can be proud of what they accomplished by building the first major corn processing facility in the region.  Cargill’s continued capital investment in the facility shows their intent to maintain a continued presence in the region well into the future.”

On behalf of Cargill, Andy Joehl, VP Trading and Risk Management:

“Golden Growers has been a tremendous partner over the years.  The facility in Wahpeton has been and will continue to be a leader in safety, a plant our customers value, and a strong demand center for corn in the area.  While our partnership with Golden Growers Cooperative will come to an end, there will be no change in our operations at the facility and our partnership with farmers in the area will continue on.  We look forward to the future, supporting North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota agriculture, and are deeply thankful for the years of success with Golden Growers.”

Note: The Agreement is for Cargill to purchase Golden Growers interest in ProGold LLC for $81 million at the end of the lease period. Your ballot for the annual meeting is anticipated to include a vote to approve a plan to dissolve the cooperative in the spring of 2027. GGC will provide additional information in the coming weeks as the annual meeting approaches. Of interest, outstanding GGC membership units total 15,490,480.

Brett Johnson (Central District) and Matt Hasbargen (At-Large Member) will both reach their term limit at our next annual meeting. David Kragnes (North District) is up for re-election as well.

This means there will be two director vacancies for the At-Large Director and for the Central District. Members who may be interested should contact the Golden Growers office or review election and nomination information on our website.

2025 Incentive Payments and Agency Fees
For calendar year 2025, Golden Growers will pay $0.05 for Method A bushels delivered directly to the plant and will charge $0.02 for Method B bushels the Cooperative secures and delivers on a member’s behalf.

This represents no change from the 2024 fees and incentives.

2025 ADA Pool Election Decision
Each year, Members have the opportunity to change their method of delivery by submitting a revised Annual Delivery Agreement (ADA). This is your only opportunity to change your method of delivery for the coming year.

You should have already received your Annual Delivery Election letter with the ADA form on the back page. If you intend to change your delivery method, return the form no later than December 10th.

Only members intending to change their delivery method need to respond. Members who deliver directly to the plant through the Method A pool have a $0.07/bushel advantage over members participating in the Method B pool. In 2024, 27.5% of bushels are to be delivered directly to the plant through the Method A pool.

During his short course presentation, Jon Ault from Eide Bailly outlined the current cybersecurity landscape. Ault stated that 28% of cyber threats are the result of user action while 72% is the result of external exposure which includes software exploits or a remote access hijack. Vulnerabilities continue to rise at a rapid rate each year. A significant portion of vulnerabilities are the result of failures to update software

Ault explained the ‘Attack Chain’ for bad actors. “It starts with access either through a known exploit or by user action. Normally, the bad actors then spends time doing ‘recon’. They move laterally throughout the organization identifying valuable information which can be exfiltrated, or stolen. This can occur over several weeks or months. At some point, however, the bad actor will encrypt the organization’s data and then monetize their efforts by demanding a ransom.” Ault gave examples of well known attacks like the MGM Resorts cyber attack that hack that cost the company nearly $100 million, despite refusing to pay the ransom.

What can you do to protect yourself?
Ault stated that you need to ‘play offense’ by training and testing yourself and your people. You should test your systems for any obvious vulnerabilities and replace old, out of date systems that may have known vulnerabilities. You also need to ‘play defense’ by keeping your systems current. Software updates are often issued to patch identified vulnerabilities. Use modern ‘end point protection’ such as anti-virus software on all computers. Good anti-virus programs often provide protection through email filtering and website security. “These are just basic defense measures.”

“You can increase your defense, but it comes down to how much inconvenience you want to deal with,” said Ault. For instance, two-factor authentication requires a separate verification code to log into things like your bank accounts, email, certain websites, social media accounts. Often this code is sent separately to your phone, email account, or through a verification application registered with the account you are trying to access. From a business standpoint, you can limit who can make changes to your network or add programs or applications to your computers through restrictive administrative privileges. As a final word of advice, Ault noted, “Keep your guard up and trust nobody.”

Additional Information:
Passwords that are short and simple can be hacked nearly instantly by a computer. On the other hand, passwords at least 12 characters in length that contain upper case and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters could take years to solve. Tech Support Farm in West Fargo created a useful online cybersecurity course: www.techsupport.farm/training

SEC Requires Cybersecurity Plans for Filing Companies
Starting in 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission requires companies to establish and disclose cybersecurity plans. The requirement is an attempt to protect investors by making sure reporting companies have a cybersecurity risk management strategy and report cybersecurity incidents. SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated in a July release announcing the rule, “Whether a company loses a factory in a fire – or millions of files in a cybersecurity incident – it may be material to investors.”

The Finance and Audit Committee is responsible for governance of the Golden Growers cybersecurity strategy and plan. The plan formalizes many of our existing strategies. In addition, the plan provides for assessment risks posed by third party vendors, an incident response plan, and a process for disclosure of incidents.

The Board wants members to understand how serious they are about securing and protecting their information, by effectively implementing protections through solid planning and oversight.