FOCUS FOR A NEW YEARWith the first quar-ter of our fiscalyear already com-pleted I would liketo bring you up todate on your coop-erative.M e r r i w e t h e rWilson completedour audit of the2008-2009 fiscalyear and we pre-sented our results

at our annual meeting November 21st. The resultsof the past year were very good with CEA postingrecord returns for our patron members. The Boardof Directors voted to allocate over 3.1 million dollarsof Patronage refunds to our members with over$930,000 being paid in cash. These strong returnsand our continued commitment to strengtheningour balance sheet remains our focus for your com-pany.The current fiscal year has started off pretty well.Despite a delayed harvest CEA saw very good grainreceipts and our agronomy season went well. Thankyou for your patience during the push of the harvestrush.

We also finished and filled our new 4000 ton 32%tank in Harris. We will be completing the batchingsystemwithin the nextmonth and should be ready togo for the spring.Another project we are currently looking at is a newdump pit, leg and grain storage at our Lake Parklocation.We did send out a letter in regards to inter-est inCondo Storage and have received positive feed-back from our customers. Management and theBoard of Directors hope to have a decision made bythe end of January. If you have interest in owningany Condo Storage please contact me or any of ourlocation managers.This fall and early winter has presented some realchallenges for our customers and employees. I wouldlike toTHANK everyone who has helped us throughthe past 4months.Your dedication and persistence isgreatly appreciated. That is why it is a pleasure towork with all the customers and employees of CEA.I would also like to personally thank Denny Hout,Mike Kleave and Gary Dagel for all their years ofservice to the patrons of Ocheyean, Lake Park andSibley. Mike retired September 1st and Denny andGary retired around the first of the year. I wishDenny, Mike, Gary and their families the very bestin the future.Thank you and have a safe winter.

NOTES FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER by Rob Jacobs

2010 CEABoard of Directors

left to right: Brent Tewes,Steve Taylor,Rob Jacobs(GeneralManager) Joel Bosma.Middle row: Mark Bremer,Jeff Ernst, John Schmidtand Jim HemphillBack row: Scott Huisenga

Have you ever wonderedwhy we stay living in thispart of the country? MyDad goes to Arizona everyyear during the winter andthen calls me to let meknow how warm it is there.I guess that gives mesomething to work for andlook forward to as I getolder.

I would like to talkabout some of the new technology that has beenintroduced in the industry.

The most talked about new technology isGenuity Smart Stax corn. Genuity is actually theumbrella name for all of Monsanto’s new tech-nology. Smart Stax is a trait for corn that bringsyou three traits to fight above ground pest andthree traits to fight below ground pest. It is themost complete protection that is available today.This new technology was developed jointlybetween the Monsanto and Dow companies bycombining Yield Guard VT3 and Herculex Xtra.All Smart Stax hybrids are Roundup and Libertytolerant.

Next we have Roundup Ready 2 Yield(RR2Y) soybeans. This technology is not the

same as some of the other so called Yield geneproducts on the market. This new technology isthe only new YIELD technology on the marketthat had to be approved by the EPA. This technol-ogy was developed by finding the gene in the soy-bean plant that promotes yield and combining itwith the Roundup resistant technology. To beoffered to the farmers the new RR2Y soybeanshave to be 7% to 11% better than the plot average85% of the time. What we saw in the test plotsthis past fall was that they may not win every plotbut they average better than the other beans whentested through out the area.

The last new technology that I would liketo talk about is the Liberty Resistant soybeans.They were actually available last season but wedid not sell any. We wanted to see how they per-formed before we sold them. We had very limiteddata on them even this year but from what wehave seen they do warrant looking at. We havesold some in the area this year so we should havemore data in the future.

For more information on any of these newproducts please ask any of the CEA agronomist orseed salesmen.

NEW TECHNOLOGY by Joel Hellinga - Seed Specialist

Rob Jacobs, Cody Hellinga, Lee Vellema,Randy Nicks (FFA Advisor)

Rob Jacobs, Nichole Philiph,Sara Fenske, Emily Lorch,Betsy Brugman (FFA Advisor)

CEA and Land o'Lakes, Inc. Matched Funds to theSibley-Ocheyedan, Harris Lake-Park, and Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn

FFA Chapters Totaling $5000.00

Greetings from FrostBite Falls, Iowa. As westart a new year, and Ifreeze to the core, I can’thelp but ask, where’s mywarming Al Gore? It’stime to put somethoughts together for theWINTER Newsletter.I’m wondering howmany of you have snow(lots) on your roofs?

This may or may not be a problem.The number one clue that trouble is brewingis lots of icicles hanging off the roof at theeaves and valleys (this indicates another prob-lem of too little insulation). As snow piles upand insulates the roof, heat loss from thehouse starts to melt it on the bottom side.Melting snow runs down the roof under thesnow, starts to freeze on the bottom edge andmakes an ice dam that backs water up underthe shingles and begins leaking into the insu-lation and from there into the ceilings, orother places. Now what do we do? Time to getout the extension ladder, and rake or shovelsnow off the roof safely.Your ladder should besized as to rated load capacity, in other words,total combined weight = person + weight oftools + weight to be carried up. Things to

watch for are length; too short, you tend toover reach; too tall, you may angle the ladderat an unsafe angle. That may cause the ladderfeet to slip out. The proper method to set upa ladder is using the 4 to 1 ratio; this will getthe 75 1/2 degree angle for proper set up. Theeasiest way to obtain this angle of setup is toset the ladder 1 foot back for every 4 feet oflength to the upper support point. It seemsobvious but still worth repeating: climb anddescend facing the ladder. Center your weightand frame between the ladder rails. Whenworking maintain a firm grip with at least onehand at all times and never let your belt buck-le pass beyond the ladder rail so you won’tlose your balance or tip the ladder. By fol-lowing a few simple, easy, common sense pre-cautions, you could be a lifelong climber,instead of one of the 136,118 people injuredin ladder accidents every year. If you needany help with current or future projects,please give Mike, Brian, or Gary a call at 758-3181 or Kirk at 348-0802.

PS. There is no such thing as a dumb ques-tion, so don’t be afraid to ask! If we don’thave an answer, we will find one for you.May the NewYear bring many blessings and,for sure, much better weather. Ready toserve you; Mike, Brian, Gary

LUMBER YARD by Mike Koenecke - Lumber Yard Manager

At this point it seems likewinter will never end, butninety days or less we willonce again be back in thefields preparing the soil andplanting our fields. This is agood time of the year tolook back at the past grow-ing season and see whatworked and didn’t work. Itis a growing season we

hope will not be repeated in 2010.

As we get closer to spring it is important forproducers to make a plan for the 2010 growingseason. Try to decide what field will be plant-ed to what, and what chemicals, and fertilizerrates, will be used. The more planning that canbe done before hand the better we can do toservice all of our producers. Anytime produc-

ers have any questions on their 2010 cropplans they should feel free to contact any ofthe agronomy staff at all of our CEA locations.We are always ready and willing to help ourcustomers with all of their agronomy inputneeds.

LOOKING BACK by Nick Meyer - Agronomy

Hard to believe we arealready into year 2010,seems like we were allbracing for the 2000 mil-lenium year not that longago.

First I wanted to thankyou for the patronage thispast year. We had a verysuccessful year at CEAand with your help it

allows our company to continue to invest inmore facilities and equipment. Looking atspecifically the grain side we continue toincrease grain receipts and this year allowedus to pay record dividends to patrons forbushel hauled to us this past fiscal year. Also Iwant to thank you for hauling to us this pastfall. We were very pleased with our fallreceipts, although at times we had long linesand short days for drying. We appreciate your

business and your patience. As a company weended up receiving around 2.8 million bushelmore than our past four year averages com-bined on corn and beans. We did get the newdryer at Harris operating before fall, whichwhen we first purchased the dryer we never inour wildest dreams ever thought we would bedrying beans with it for two weeks straightbefore starting on the corn dryer. Needless tosay an excellent year to upgrade and it workednearly flawless.

Looking at the markets as of today on the 12thof January, the USDA just came out with theirJanuary production numbers and that put themarkets into a tail spin. I included this reportin this newsletter. The report gives some his-torical data along with their new findings.

Once again thank you for your business andlook forward to seeing you in 2010.

GRAIN MARKETING by Matt Zeman - Grain Merchandiser

USDA Production (in billions of bushels)

Corn 13.151 12.819 12.921 12.10112.500-12.996

USDAJan 09/10

AverageTrade Est.

USDADec 09/10

USDA2008

Range ofTrade Est.

Soybeans 3.361 3.337 3.319 2.9673.219-3.420

USDA Yield (in billions of bushels)

Corn 165.2 162.5 162.9 153.9160.0-164.5

USDAJan 09/10

AverageTrade Est.

USDADec 09/10

USDA2008

Range ofTrade Est.

Soybeans 44.0 43.4 43.3 39.740.0-44.7

USDA US Grain Carryout (in billions of bushels)

Corn 1.764 1.613 1.675 1.6731.424-1.731

USDAJan 09/10

AverageTrade Est.

USDADec 09/10

USDA2008

Range ofTrade Est.

Soybeans 0.245 0.237 0.255 0.1380.170-0.329

Wheat 0.976 0.905 0.900 0.6570.800-0.955

December 1 Grain Stocks

Corn 10.934 10.663 10.07810.130-11.390

USDA AverageUSDA2008Range

Soybeans 2.337 2.411 2.2762.377-2.449

Wheat 1.765 1.760 1.4221.695-1.809

Well, it’s official winteris finally here. It’s hardto believe in just a fewshort months it will betime to get back in thefields. But some thingsto consider before thattime arrives are fertiliz-er and chemicals. Themain one that I would

like to talk about is the price on Roundup. It’s wellunder half price of what it was last year. I’m sure youall have seen the commercials and heard the radio ads.

The best deal this year would have to be RoundupWeatherMax. For the full rate it is around $4 an acre.But that’s not the best part, if you use a Harness prod-uct on your corn and Select Max on your beans you get$4 dollars back! Also if you use WeatherMax on yourcorn and beans and you have to spray again they willgive you $7 dollars back. So the way it looks beingthat the initial price has come down and with therewards, Roundup WeatherMax can be a pretty gooddeal. To discuss if this would be the right choice onyour farm this year feel free to stop in and see one ofour agronomists.

Lee Dauhas joined CEA at the Ocheyedan location where he will beworking in the grain and agronomy departments. Lee and wife,Tiffany have two sons, Michael 12 and Brandon 10.They attendthe Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Schools. Lee is a graduate ofHartley-Melvin-Sanborn and Southwest State, Marshall,Minnesota. Lee enjoys hunting, fishing and camping with thefamily.

Brian Marcohas joined CEA at the Sibley location. Brian will be workingin the grain and agronomy departments. Brian and GinaMarco are the parents of two sons, Andrew 11 years andDalton age 9. They reside in Sibley and the boys attend SibleyOcheyedan schools. Brian enjoys spending time with family,watching the boys in their sports activities and fishing. Briansays he looks forward to serving the CEA Customers.

Arthur Eddy has joined CEA at the Lake Park location as an agronomist. Arthur grad-uated from Sibley-Ocheyedan High School and Iowa State University. Arthur enjoys hunt-ing, and fishing and tinkering and building new things with metal or wood.

WELCOME THE NEW EMPLOYEES AT CEA

Jeff Lausenhas joined the CEA Ocheyedan location. Jeff will be workingin the feed mill. Jeff is married to Elisha. Elisha works forRaveling Construction in Melvin. They reside on an acreagenear Sibley, Iowa. They are the parents of Rachel16, Grant 13,Braden 11, Callie 8 and Ashlyn 5. Rachel and Grant attendEstherville schools and Braden, Callie and Ashlynn go toCentral Lyon Schools. Jeff is originally from the Estherville,Iowa area. He has previously worked for Kent Feeds and NewFashion Pork. Jeff enjoys riding his Harley motorcycle, spend-ing time with his family.

ROUNDUP PRICES by Arthur Eddy - Agronomy

Jameson Hennings hasjoined CEA at theHartley location as anAgronomist –ManureManagement special-ist. Jameson livesnorth of Hartley wherehe enjoys hunting,fishing, snowmobiling,being with friends andfamily and helping onthe farm.

For those of you who may not know me, my name isJameson Hennings. I am the son of Larry and RebeccaHennings. I graduated in May 2009 from SouthDakota State University with a degree in Agronomy.Just to tell you a few things about me, I enjoy allaspects of the outdoors whether it’s working on thefarm, fishing, hunting, or snowmobiling and also beingwith friends and family. So, there are just a few thingsabout me, but I suppose I should say a little about whatmy duties are here at Coop Elevator Association.

I have taken over the Manure Management duties andworking along with Chad Kunzman in Agronomydepartment here at CEA, located out of the Hartleylocation. When I first started my duties here at CEA,the 2009 harvest was well underway. As this last fall

was probably a fall no one wants to remember, mostwill not forget.

Just a few things to keep in mind as we get into theheart of winter even though it seems like winter hasbeen here longer than it has with the “arctic-like” con-ditions. The DNR have been regulating the placing,storing, and/or spreading of animal manure on frozenground. Though applying liquid manure over frozenground is ILEGALL, some may have an EMER-GENCY and MAY be eligible for a permit to applyLIQUID MANURE on frozen ground. If this is thecase, a permit must be given by the DNR.The applicators need to make sure they apply at least200 feet away from a water source or at least 50 feetaway if a buffer zone exists. If there any questionsabout anything pertaining to Manure Management orAgronomy, please feel free to call me at 712-260-5171or 712-728-2945.

Tips for Owners of Confinement Operations andCommercial Applicators1) Keep manure application records for at least 5years.2) Apply correct rate determined by manure sample orstated in Manure Management Plan3) Keep grid samples up to date. (Phosphorus Indexbased plans must have grid samples up to date every 4years)

MANURE MANAGEMENT by Jameson Hennings - Agronomy

With the 2010 grow-ing season justaround the corner,growers need to bemaking decisions onwhat herbicide pro-gram that they will beusing in corn and soy-benas. With the lowcost of RoundUp® in2010 many growersare looking at a twoshot application of

RoundUp® and not using a preplant herbicide. Thereare a couple of reasons that could affect yield if weedsare controlled early in the growing season. Remember

corn does not compete with weeds. One to two inchweeds can affect corn yields by as much as six to tenbushels per acre. Not only do weeds affect develop-ment of young corn plants, they take moisture andnutrients that are very important to yield. There aremany pre-plant herbicides on the market today. Agrower needs to take a look at what weeds he needs tocontrol. Two products that CEA offers are Sure-Start® and Harness®. Both of these products offeroutstanding grass control with excellent control ofmany broadleaf weeds. Using a pre-plant herbicidealso gives you another mode of action against anyweak resistance. As we get closer to spring let theagronomy staff at CEA help you with any questions.Thanks and have a very safe spring.

HERBICIDE DECISIONS by Don Majerus - Agronomy

CEA has also added a new 4 wheel variable ratefloater at the Sibley location.

Wow, another harvestseason mostly done.Just a brief overviewof fall harvest at theSibley location is asfollows. We receivedour first soybeans onSept. 28, and our lastones on Nov. 27.Our average moistureon the beans receivedwas 14.6 % moisture.We dried about a

quarter of the beans received. This was the first for ushere. Our first corn received was on Nov. 4 and thelast was received on Dec. 22. We almost made it untilChristmas. The average moisture on the corn taken inthis fall was 22% and the average test weight was 52pounds. We dried everything we took in other thanwhat was brought in from dryers off the farm. I fig-ure our dryer ran roughly 800 hours this fall. This fallwas unlike any other we have been through in the past.A lot of time was spent by all of us to get the job done.

No corn was put on the ground this year in Sibley.The long harvest allowed us time to get it hauledaway, thanks to all the trucks.

With the quality issues on the grain this season, we

have been monitoring our grain closely to try and keepit in good condition. They tell me that 20 to 35degrees is a good temperature to have the grain atwhen storing until spring. Please be sure to checkyour grain weekly. If you would have an interest Ihave the name and number of the people who sell andinstall heat cables for bins.

We have had some personnel changes here in Sibley,which most of you probably already know. MikeRoede has taken the agronomist position here inSibley since early fall. Mike has been with us for 3years after graduation from Iowa State and was doingour manure management planning. Gary Dagel hasretired after 35 years of service. We will miss Gary alot and look forward to having him help out during ourbusy seasons here at the elevator. Brian Marco, fromSibley, will be replacing Gary. He has helped us outin the spring and fall for a number of years and comesto us with pretty good knowledge on how our systemruns. We look forward to Mike and Brian working atour location.

We have been spending a lot of time lately moving themassive amounts of snow. One of our customers toldme that the forecast is “up and still” - snow up to ourrears and still coming. That was pretty cute.

Thanks to all our patrons for everything.

SHORT HARVEST TIME by Dave Muilenburg - Sibley Location Manager

AG-CHEM TERRA-GATOR8204

First off, I would liketo thank the Sibleylocation customers foreasy transition theymade for me this fall. Iam excited to get toknow you and yourfarming operations bet-ter in the coming year!Jameson Hennings isnow the manure man-agement specialist for

CEA. Jameson and I will work together this coming

year as he learns the rules and regulations of manuremanagement.

The Northwest Iowa On-Farm Research projectsincluded many area producers from Sibley. Manytrials were done on corn and soybean plant popula-tions, tillage practices and fungicides. This is veryuseful information to review when considering nextyear’s crop management practices. You can pick upcopies of this publication at my office. The website ishttp://ofr.ag.iastate.edu/ where they have otherresearch data and should have the 2009 data postedsoon.

ON-FARM RESEARCH by Mike Roede - Agronomy

We are glad fall isover and it is lookinglike it is going to be along winter with lotsof snow and windwhich makes it toughon livestock farmers.We want to remindeveryone that feedorders can be placedthrough our LakePark location and

delivered from the Hartley and Ocheyedan feed mills.We offer the usual products as in the past such as petfood, bagged feeds, softener salt, for example.

Farmers, make sure you keep close attention on thegrain in bins, especially bins with the higher moistercorn in them.

We have some changes in the Lake Park location.Denny Hout retired on December 4. I will be the loca-tion manager for Lake Park. We have added a newagronomist Arthur Eddy. Matt Zeman will be in LakePark on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays part time tohelp with the grain merchandising.

We are doing some remodeling here in Lake Park.Kris has moved out to the front counter, and we havemade another office in the back area where ArthurEddy will have his office.

There is a possibility that we will be offering condostorage built in Lake Park. If there is enough interest,the storage will be east of the concrete complex. CEAalso plans to update and speed up the concrete com-plex. If you are interested in owning condo storage,please stop by and we will explain how it works. Moreinformation will be sent out later. And remember,Spring is just around the corner!

REMODELING IN LAKE PARK by Bob Frank - Lake Park Location Manager

HYBRIDS DECISIONS by Dan Jacobsma - Agronomy

Hey everyone,

First off it is great tobe back at CEA, andworking with all ofyou again. I wouldlike to thank all of youfor the warm wel-come I have receivedupon returning toCEA, it is truly a tes-tament of how great aplace this is to work.

My new job will be to develope and coordinate the pre-cision ag portion of our business, at first this will meanlots of time on the phone and going to meet with peo-ple about what they are using and what is working wellfor them. From there we will begin helping customersuse the data they are collecting in the field to make bet-ter management decisions about hybrids, fertility, plantpopulation, etc. The technology out there today is veryexciting and should help CEA and its customers as weall move forward in this ever changing world of agron-omy.

My office is down at the seed warehouse inOcheyedan, stop in or give me a call.

Tis the season for shov-els, coveralls and #1fuel. Fortunately wehaven't had too manyproblems getting thefuel. Milford had it inearly December butnow we must go toMarshall or Clear Lake.The supply seems to bethere but that couldchange overnight. The

price of fuel for #1 and #2 diesel was holding steadyuntil the cold weather hit. Now it’s starting to rise.Gas prices are following, unfortunately, but still isbetter than $3.00 that was predicted at Christmas.CEA will be implicating a $20.00 fuel drop chargeon all orders under 100 gallons to help with fuel andtruck expence. Spring is right around the corner -thank goodness.

SUPPLY OF FUEL by Jim Rohwer - Petrolium Department

Cooperative Elevator AssociationP.O. Box 69 • 823 Main StreetOcheyedan, Iowa 51354 MAI

LED

FR

OM ZIP CODE51249

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 60

CEA has added a new servicetrailer that will be used formill right work. SteveNiswander will use this at allCEA locations.

CEA LOCATIONSP.O. Box 69 • 823 Main St.OCHEYEDAN, IA 51354

(712) 758-3621 • FAX (712) 758-3625•

P.O Box 69 • 1107 2nd Ave.SIBLEY, IA 51249

(712) 754-2526 • FAX (712) 754-2678•

333 South Central Ave.HARTLEY, IA 51346

(712) 728-2945 • FAX (712) 728-2761•

305 S. MainHARRIS, IA 51345

(712) 349-2169 • FAX (712) 349-2176•

204 East Railroad StreetLAKE PARK, IA 51347

(712) 832-3621 • FAX (712) 832-3242

Winter2010

This is a list of patrons that have stock and/or stock credits here at CEA.Through the years they may have moved or passed away,

so we would like to find them. . .

FIRST NAME LAST NAME LAST KNOWN ADDRESSRYNDERT DEGROOTE PELLA, IOWAAVIS JEAN DICKERSON PINE GROVE, CALIFORNIADR. VERN FROST PHOENIX, ARIZONADOROTHY HELMERS SIBLEY, IOWAMARK JANSMA SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTAGEORGE LUNDBERG SPIRIT LAKE, IOWAMARVIN SEIVERTROY MOORE LAKE PARK, IOWADELORES MOSLEY LAKE PARK, IOWAGERALD PETERSON ROUND LAKE, MINNESOTAERNEST PETERSON LAKEFIELD, MINNESOTADOROTHY RAU ESTATE ROCK RAPIDS, IOWAPAUL REASONER SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTONJIM RUTHER PAGE, NEBRASKAERMA SANTAGNELO MASSILLION, OHIOMARVIN SASSEMRS. LEONARD SCHRODER ESTATEHAROLD SCHWARZ HARLINGEN, TEXASRANDOLPH SORENSON CREIGHTON, NEBRASKAVIRGIL STETTNICHS SPIRIT LAKE, IOWAIRVIN UNTIEDT ROUND LAKE, MINNESOTAGILBERT WALLRICH ASHTON, IOWADON ZICKEEFOOSE LAKE PARK, IOWA