Mid-County Newsletter MCnewsletter-fall13

MESSENGER Fall 2013 • Vol. 24 www.midcountycoop.com HONEST Y • INTEGRIT Y • VALUE INSIDE: PAGE 2 - 3 PAGE 4 - 5 Energy PAGE 6 Agronomy Auto Truck & Tire Center YOU’RE IN y r t n C ou Mid-County “You’re in Mid-County Country,” means that we have survived the ups and downs of the last 77 years. We are financially strong, and we are locally-based. We recently acquired a propane customer what had been dealing with an out of state company. What made the difference? They came to our office, and they talked face to face with our staff. They were able to meet the people at Mid-County, and they knew we were going to make our best effort to make it easy to do business with us. Our Auto, Truck and Tire Center had a very good year. Revenue continues to grow at a very modest pace, as is profitability. Our growth continues to be in the truck repair side of the business. The auto repair business is stable and very much an impor- tant part of the operation. With the diverse customer base we have such as trucks, trailers, campers, and small equipment, we continue on with our saying, “Big to Small- We Repair It All”. The Energy department has been work- ing on the expansion of the bulk fuel stor- age in Cologne. We will increase our stor- age capacity by more than 1/3. This allows us to have adequate supplies on hand dur- ing peak seasons, and allows us to support our other storage facilities in Green Isle, Waverly, and Long Lake. Fortunately, we also increased our propane storage a few years ago, which has helped us immensely to stay ahead of the large crop drying demand we are experiencing this fall, and has helped to overcome the shortages most companies are experiencing. Agronomy; in spite of a long, wet spring turned out very well this past year. Acres serviced grew at a very good pace, as did all of the product categories. We are con- tinuing to invest in more equipment, tech- nology, and, most importantly, our people, to continue to help our customers grow better crops. The Cologne Holiday convenience store is recovering from the change in the traf- fic pattern on 212. The new carwash has helped generate new revenue throughout the year, as well. We feel this store is impor- tant to the community and to Mid-County as a whole and will continue to invest in it and improve it to accommodate future growth. Our auditors just finished our annual audit a few weeks ago. We were very fortu- nate to finish the year with a strong bottom line. Along with that, we were able to close out the year with no long or short-term bank debt. We hope you can join us at the upcoming annual meeting Friday, Dec. 13, where we will share the details of the improvements to your cooperative. We are confident you will again be pleased with the patronage dividends you will receive for supporting your co-op. As always, I appreciate your comments and suggestions to make your co-op bet- ter. AGRONOMY 710 Lake St. W, Cologne, MN 55322 (952) 466-3710 700 Lake Street West, Cologne, MN 55322 (952) 466-3720 700 Lake St. W, Cologne, MN 55322 (952) 466-3730 COLOGNE Hwy. 212 & Hwy. 284, Cologne, MN 55322 (952) 466-5657 (952) 466-3700 • 888-466-3700 • 700 Lake Street West , P.O. Box 177, Cologne