Country Partners Cooperative and Cooperative Producers, Inc. Reaches Agreement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gothenburg, NE (July 15,2016)

Contact:  Erin Ptak, Cooperative Producers Inc.; EPtak@cpicoop.com, 402-463-5148

Contact:  Janell Rossen, Country Partners Cooperative;  jrossen@countrypartnerscoop.com, 308-537-7141

Cooperative Producers Inc. (CPI), headquartered in Hastings, NE and Country Partners Cooperative, headquartered in Gothenburg, NE, both farmer owned cooperatives,  have reached an agreement whereby Cooperative Producers will sell to Country Partners all assets located in Anselmo, Arnold,  Merna, and Stapleton.   Terms of the sale, which is expected to close on August 31, 2016 were not disclosed.

“Country Partners approached us several months back about their interest in purchasing these locations.  As we look at the market place into the future, we felt confident that given the Country Partners footprint in that area, they will be able to serve the farmers in that market area more effectively than CPI has been able to do.”, states Jeff Loschen, board chairman of CPI. “We are proud of the great progress CPI has made in improving operations over the past few years. This sale will allow the CPI management team to more effectively focus on continued improvement efforts to effectively serve our member/owners in our remaining trade area.”

Tim Rowe, board chairman of Country Partners states, “These locations fit into Country Partners extremely well, situated in the middle of our trade territory.  The board of directors and employees are excited about their addition to our cooperative.  Operationally, the new locations will benefit Country Partners in terms of asset and staff utilization.  We believe we will be able to offer producers in these areas a high level of service.  We would like to welcome the customers in these communities into the Country Partners family and look forward to partnering with them in the years ahead.”

With corporate offices in Gothenburg, Country Partners Cooperative is a leading full service agricultural cooperative with divisions in agronomy, seed, grain, energy, and feed.  Country Partners has been providing products, services, and expertise to 26 communities in central and west central Nebraska since 1904 and employ over 250 full-time employees.  They are committed to agriculture and proud to provide innovative services and quality products at competitive prices to their patrons.

Cooperative Producers, Inc. (CPI) is owned by area farmers with its corporate offices located in Hastings, Nebraska and consists of locations in 39 communities in central and south central Nebraska.  The Company serves customers by providing services in grain handling and marketing, fertilizer sales and application, agriculture chemicals sales and application, livestock feed sales and processing, and petroleum/energy sales and delivery services.

Letters with additional information have been mailed to stockholders of both cooperatives.