Illinois-based cooperative GROWMARK has some pretty positive news from its new 2014 annual report. The company says it had $10.2 billion in sales, delivering a return on capital of more than 12 percent and growth from almost every division within the company.

Sales in nearly every division of GROWMARK grew in 2014, with the Plant Food Division and our East Coast subsidiary, SEEDWAY, LLC breaking sales volume records. Sales in the Crop Protection Division were the second best in their history.

Since 1998, total volume of energy products has grown by just more than ten percent each year. In 2014 we exceeded that by four percent. Although we were able to meet the needs of our customers during the propane logistics challenges in the winter, we purchased a propane terminal at Canton, SD to enhance our supply chain in the future. Despite depressed prices of grain, we recorded sales of 200 million bushels and pretax income of $5 million in our
Grain Division.

GROWMARK also pointed to the selection of Jim Spradlin as the next CEO, replacing Jeff Solberg, who recently retired. Spradlin is the first CEO in five decades to have member company management experience – a tremendous attribute in leading this system.

Read the complete report here.