CRI Reports 2008 Year End Results

SHAWANO, Wis. - The first ever national, joint annual meeting for Cooperative Resources International's (CRI) subsidiary members was held March 24-25 in Bloomington, Minn. Over 250 delegates represented CRI's three subsidiaries - AgSource Cooperative Services, a comprehensive agricultural testing and informational services business, Central Livestock Association, a livestock marketing firm, and Genex Cooperative, Inc., a supplier of dairy and beef cattle genetics.

"It was good for all of CRI to be assembled in one location. It gave members from across the country an idea of the breadth and depth of their organization," stated Doug Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, CRI.

During the annual business meeting, delegates were presented with the cooperative's 2008 financial results. Chief Financial Officer Larry Romuald reported a consolidated income of $144,204,097, a 15.3 percent increase over 2007. The consolidated pre-tax income was $2,051,591, a 1.4 percent return on total revenue. These results included the earnings of the three subsidiaries and the cooperative's International Division.

Romuald commented on the year's financial status. "2008 was the most volatile year most have known. Your cooperative experienced the best and worst of it. From record gas prices, soaring commodity prices for feed, high milk prices and crashing investment markets, your cooperative's financial statements reflect them all. Following the current economic situation, we will strive to return to record-breaking performances. It is our foundation and 2008 performance level that makes us confident of such a statement."

CRI Chairman John Ruedinger, a dairyman from Van Dyne, Wis., believes there are three words that sum up the cooperative's positive position for the future. "People, products and services - These are our core values and even through tough economic times, we will not waiver. Because of these values, CRI has grown to become a world leader in all aspects of animal agriculture. We have grown outside our core businesses and have accepted the challenge to be an early innovator in new technologies. This will allow us to be sought after by many throughout the future."

AgSource Cooperative Services
AgSource continued its positive earning trend throughout 2008. Continued growth in the cooperative's DHI (Dairy Herd Improvement) operations and expansion of services in non-member areas led AgSource to its largest growth in DHI operations in the past 30 years. As of December 31, 2008, AgSource was providing DHI services to herds totaling over 690,000 cows and in the past 12 months registered over 7.2 million individual cow recordings. Much of the growth was sparked by a marked increase in records processing activity outside AgSource's Upper Midwest membership area where over 50,000 cows are now being recorded by the cooperative.

AgSource also had a successful year in its non-DHI services. Water testing activity increased 27 percent, and the cooperative analyzed over 360,000 soil samples at its three Midwestern laboratories. On December 31, 2008, AgriCheck, Inc., an agronomic laboratory in Umatilla, Ore., was acquired jointly by Genex and AgSource. Agri-Check is expected to provide management and marketing synergies with CRI North West Labs in Jerome, Idaho, and all further expansion of services in the Pacific Northwest.

Central Livestock Association
Central Livestock, an 88-year-old livestock marketing firm operates five prominent markets in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota serving the Midwest's cattle, horse, swine, sheep and goat producers.

In April 2008, the cooperative completed the closing of its South St. Paul, Minn., market. A new market, Rock Creek, located at Pine City, Minn., was opened in July. This market serves as a convenient location for livestock producers located in northwest Wisconsin and east central and northeast Minnesota.

In the past year, Central Livestock also expanded TEAM (the Electronic Auction Market), an online interactive marketplace that brings cattle buyers and sellers together through the Internet. Working cooperatively through Central Livestock and Genex employees, Central Livestock promotes TEAM throughout the continental United States.

Genex Cooperative, Inc.
Genex has provided cattle producers with profit-minded programs and high-quality semen from leading sires for over 60 years. In 2008, the milk prices aided by strong exports of dairy products allowed Genex to attain a record level of dairy semen sales, 16.7 percent above last year's actual performance. Beef semen sales demonstrated strong increases too. In the past year, Genex also experienced a growth of over 180,000 arm services surpassing 2,139,000 services. This brought the total number of cows bred each day by Genex employees to 5,860.

The beef custom collection service, which collects more units from more bulls than any other organization, demonstrated growth of over 20 percent for the year.

The Genex Farm Systems Division, marketing farmstead and milking equipment, established a new record with revenues at $12,124,593, a 55 percent increase. The Division's contributions included the sale and placement of their first digester in Brooten, Minn.

International Division
CRI's international marketing program generated a 40 percent increase in sales over 2007. Over three million units of cattle semen was sold in 60 different countries. 2008 marked the fourth consecutive years of record breaking levels for the International Division.

CRI, a member-owned holding cooperative, is comprised of three subsidiaries: Central Livestock, AgSource and Genex. The CRI Mission Statement summarizes the goal of CRI: "To provide products and services as effectively as possible to maximize the profitability of members and customers worldwide while maintaining a strong cooperative."

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