Financial Update from Steve - Page 2

Safety Corner - Page 3

Team Member Spotlight - Page 8

March 2016

ViafieldThe

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Voice

Thank You for the Warm Welcome.February was my first full month on the job at Viafield and I can’t express how much I appreciate the warm support of everyone on the Viafield team. I already feel at home and proud to serve at a company with such a rich history and dedicated team members. We have many strengths collectively that will lead to our future success. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can all accomplish together!

Financial performance will be a key factor to our success and the catalyst

to invest in the future of Viafield. Our results for February met expectations, but our year to date local net savings are behind budget by $892,750.This is due to two main factors: 1. Grain margins and volume are

lagging behind expectations due to slow farmer selling in the current low commodity price environment.

2. Feed gross margins are lower from local disease which reduced volume and per ton margins.

We expect grain sales to pick up the balance of the year to close some of the gap and forecast feed volumes to stabilize as animal numbers build back to normal levels in the second and third quarter.

Agronomy has been a bright spot for the cooperative and is above plan on both gross margins and volume. However, we are expecting to have reduced margins for this spring season and therefore need to be focused on growing sales on uncommitted acres.

We must also strive for flawless execution from our operations team this spring and collaboration

Continued on page 2

Chris LudwigCEO

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between locations to fully utilize our equipment and team members to service customers.

To close the gap and achieve our year-end financial plan, we must continue to exceed volume expectations in agronomy. It’s important all of us support our agronomy sales and operations team members in the coming months to delight and serve our members safely.

Speaking of safety, Viafield was recently recognized by our insurance carrier as having superior safety performance relative to our peers and provided us a rebate on our

policy. This is an achievement that should be celebrated and I want to congratulate everyone for their commitment to safety. Above all else, I want Viafield to be a safe place to work and do business. Although our past performance has been superior, we must not rest and continue to improve our safety culture. As we all prepare for a busy spring season, please stay aware of your surroundings, follow safety procedures, and practice safe behaviors. Your safety and the well-being of your team members depends on it.

One area we’ll be focusing on in the coming weeks is developing

Viafield’s core values and strategy. This will be the building blocks of our future business plans. These plans will be the roadmaps that define our direction, establish goals, and set expectations on how everyone at Viafield can help farmers succeed and contribute to the success of Viafield. Look for more activity in the coming months as we plot our path to a bright future.

Thank you for an amazing first month at Viafield!

Chris

Keeping Our Eyes On The RoadA quick update on the financial position of your cooperative

We are now just about halfway through our fiscal year. With the very important agronomy spring season about to hit, it is vital that we maintain our fiscal focus and work to be as efficient as we can.

Volumes Update:Grain volume is currently ahead of last year. We have an aggressive goal of 30 millionbushels of corn and 7.5 million bushels of beans. Our soybeans goal looks attainable. Corn is going to be more difficult. Fertilizer tons are up 4,398 tones. Our custom application goal is very close to plan. Unfortunately energy variance is primarily because of a poor propane season with corn coming out of the field drier than normal.

Total year to date earnings are behind budget by $892,750. Working capital continues to be good. We are $2 million over our working capital covenant.

VOLUMES Feb. Actual YTD Actual Last Year Actual YTD BudgetGrain Sales (bushels) 2,732,545 16,232,364 14,550,863 19,338,849Fertilizer Sales (tons) 0 25,122 20,724 24,483Energy Sales (gallons) 618,726 5,051,426 6,786,315 6,893,423Application (acres) 0 116,108 98,199 117,466

Gross Margins ($$) Feb. Actual YTD Actual Last Year Actual YTD BudgetAgronomy Business $306,651 $4,883,048 $5,043,459 $4,331,928Energy Business $184,139 $1,233,630 $1,553,479 $1,346,196Feed Business $319,458 $1,662,343 $1,893,544 $2,111,092Grain Business $336,205 $2,852,216 $2,035,090 $3,489,827Net Earnings $612,405 $944,827 $1,505,155Working Capital $22,166,658 $26,301,838

Steve BodensteinerCFO

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Spring Into Safety

SAFETY CORNER

Kevin DavisSafety Team Leader

The Feed department is still running our promotion/booking program for Rangeland Tubs and Wind & Range Mineral. This promotion runs through April 5. Mike Kirby and Mason Kolbet are doing a great job along with all the locations. We should be able to hit our goal of 176 tons of these products.

Swine producers are still looking for contract growers with both new & existing barns. New barns have started construction this month. There is still time to get a barn up this year. If you have any questions, talk to Jerry Cole, Steve Woods, Mason Kolbet or myself.

Our feed team is always trying to find ways to reduce expenses and

As we get ready to start the busy spring season, I want to thank everyone who participated in the Spring Safety Training sessions this past month. We covered topics from Safety Data Sheets and NH3 to Emergency Action Plans and defensive driving. We also reviewed pictures of safety issues from the site observations that the Safety Committee has been doing over the last six months at various Viafield locations. A good discussion was had by all at the meetings and tI appreciated everyone keeping the meetings lively. For those of you who were unable to attend these meetings, keep an eye out for a future make up meetings in our

western and eastern territories. I will try to schedule them around the busy agronomy season. Location Team Lteaders, if you have any new seasonal team members or team members who didn’t attend the spring safety meetings, please let me know their names and locations, so that I can try and get them taken care of.

Our insurance agent recently came to the central office in Charles City and shared with Chris Ludwig, Steve Bodensteiner, Anne Benning, and myself that after doing their review of our Worker’s Compensation policy, Viafield earned a substantial dividend payment in the amount of $35,281. This has a direct correlation to all team members following Viafield’s policy and procedures, wearing the proper personal protective equipment when needed or required, and thinking safety first when doing your job duties. With the busy spring season coming very soon, we need

to make sure that we are keeping our mind on task, our eyes on task, and taking “7 Seconds to Safety” before doing any of our tasks. We also need to have each of our fellow team member’s backs when we have other people from other areas coming and helping out this season.

THANK YOU all for your continued safety efforts and building a stronger SAFETY CULTURE at Viafield.

Efficiency is the Name of the GameTeamwork and communication are vital to the Feed department

Bill HayesFeed Team Leader

become more efficient. One way we do this is to send feed orders to the manufacturing location that makes the most sense. Through daily communication and team work, our locations in Elgin, Maynard, and Rudd make sure everyone is on the same page to get feed manufactured and delivered. When one location is slow and another is busy, the mills share orders when possible to get the feed delivered. A great example of this is when one location is slow and another is busy, the mills share orders when possible and get the feed delivered. Another example would be when a truck from Elgin is going to Land O’Lakes in Mason City. They will often pick up a load of feed and

deliver it for the Rudd location on the way out.

Teamwork isn’t always easy and it takes a lot of communication, but in the long run it makes the feed division much more efficient.

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Initiatives For Human ResourcesYour Human Resources team is working on a number of important initiatives to help out the team

As you know your Human Resources department exists to help our internal customers, or our Team Members. We support our Team Members in many ways whether it is answering benefit or payroll questions, or working through team member relations situations, our goal is to maintain a quick turnaround time and provide accurate information or guidance. We are working on a number of initiatives you will start seeing communicated in the future including; a transition to Web Time from Timeforce time & attendance system, a health & wellness campaign, as well as gathering information on our positions at Viafield through job descriptions. We will be transitioning from Timeforce to Web Time (a Paylocity

module), for a few reasons, but the main one is to capture accurate data on what department you spend your time working in. This will allow our financials to provide a clearer picture to where labor expenses should be allocated. It is even more important in continuing to allocate your time, or to start allocating your time in the time & attendance system. This change will also allow Location Team Leaders more responsibility in the time card process.

We informed you last fall we switched our relationship with our Benefits Brokerage firm to Associated Financial Group and are very pleased we did. The resources and services provided are top notch, and as such you will start to see a shift in our health & wellness focus. At our renewal each year a large portion of our premium increases are due to the cost of claims each year. This past year weighed heavily on the increase use of prescriptions in particular, which is why we separated the prescription benefit we offer. If we have team members who are not maintaining a healthy lifestyle, our company suffers at renewal. It will take some time to see financial gain from a Wellness Program; however we need to continue educating our

team members on the importance of being healthy and how you direct your care. The final initiative drives many aspects in our company. And although we wear many hats at our locations, complete and accurate job descriptions are the backbone in better decision-making. Decisions in compensation, skill sets, performance, and worker compensation are among the top when discussing the role and responsibilities of our team members. Again these are just a few of the top areas of focus for HR in the coming months, in addition to helping craft Viafield’s core values and strategy, that will help lead our company to exciting successes!

Anne BenningHR Team Leader

“Check out our career section of the website...we want our team membersto continue developing as Viafield grows opportunities!”

Current Full-Time openings

CareerOpportunities

• Agronomy Applicator - Eastern Region

Part-time & Seasonal openings

• Accounting Specialist - Charles City• Tender Truck Driver - Northwood

• Tender Truck Driver - Randalia & Arlington

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Fall fertilizer sales were up. Thanks to the sales force and operations for a successful fall season. Seed bookings are up significantly and I look forward to having a good spring season too. Although sales are up in fertilizer our budget margins are not being met. That happens when you have inventories in a declining market. That is why we need to control inventories better than in the past. Jill Winkler will be helping me out with load distribution.

On a positive note Gina Hoffman and Hope Cline recently took the Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) test. This is a pretty tough to test and it usually takes more than one attempt. However they both passed it on the first attempt. Congratulations on obtaining your CCA! They join John Swehla with the CCA designation on our agronomy sales team.

Nick Johansen has been out selling and now installing Precision Planting equipment. He and Brian Dirksen have stirred up a lot of interest through one on one contacts as well as meetings where they made presentations. Getting seed placement, spacing and population right is important to reach the maximum potential on every acre. This business will continue to grow. Thank you Nick and Brian for the work you are doing.

As spring season approaches we all need to focus on customer service. This is the time for us to shine. A friendly and helpful attitude will help Viafield grow in the future. Try your best each day to provide a positive image as we serve our customers.

Planting The Seeds For SuccessMaking our customers needs our top priority

Bob CampAgronomy Team Leader

Preparation Benefits EveryoneHaving all our ducks in a row makes the planting season much easier

Our March weather has been typical for northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. It teases us with above average temperatures, letting us think we can get an early start on fieldwork, and then slaps us with several snow and ice storms. We know now that once the weather cooperates, we will be hitting our spring agronomy season hard.

Our agronomy locations have been busy getting their equipment ready to roll over the last several months. We also have some new equipment across our locations to better serve our customers, including an Agchem Airmax in Northwood and a Case 4030 spinner bought last fall for Randalia.

We have started a weekly conference call for Location Team Leaders to communicate where locations sit for preparedness and will continue these calls on a more frequent basis throughout the Spring. This will allow everyone to utilize our assets more efficiently, saving us time and improving our customer focus. We encourage all locations to be on the call so we can see where help is needed.

We sold soybeans to the river to get most of our east locations empty and have done a good job with only Maynard and Sumner having bean inventory. We continue to load corn trains to ADM and bean trains to Cargill at our IANR locations. As

the weather warms, we remind everybody to keep a closer eye on their grain inventory and report any concerns to Rick, Darwin, or Dave Quisley.

We would like to thank all of our team members for the hard work that they have put in and will be putting in as the spring progresses. During this busy time, we also need to remember to work safely.

Rick DavisOperations

Team Leader Darwin TabbertOperations

Team Leader

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Focusing On Our CommunitiesBeing active members of the communities we serve goes a long way

Reaching Out To Educate Our CustomersThe Energy Team holds four informational meetings

The Energy Department held four Spring Energy Customer Meetings on March 15th, 16th, and 17th. The meetings were held in Marble Rock, Grafton, Sumner, and Arlington. We had a good response with a total of 56 customers and prospects attending the meetings. Our speakers were Larry Richmond, CHS Refined Fuels District Manager, and Mike Crane, CHS Lubricants District Manager. Topics covered at the meetings included fuel quality, proper fuel blending, tank maintenance, premium diesel, the Cenex Total Protection Plan, and quality lubricants.

Matt Katcher and Mason Kleitsch did a great job arranging these meetings. The Energy Team would like to thank everyone that made these meetings possible. A special thanks to Kurt Schweizer, Andrew Kruse, Mark Coyle, Gus Engels, Darren Peterson, Dave Krull, Wendall Kueker, Jared Haverkamp, Bruce Fleihler, Lori Butikofer, Cory Butikofer, Gary Butikofer, Dan Sheckles, John Zweibohmer, Chris Menke, and Jessica Mayer for helping make the meetings a success.

Mike KuboushekEnergy Team Leader

Mike Kuboushek Named Director of the IPGA

Congratulations to Viafield Energy Team Leader Mike Kuboushek for recently being named to the Board of Directors for the Iowa Propane Gas Association (IPGA). The IPGA’s serves dealers, suppliers, consumers and builders by promoting the growth of the propane gas industry and the many benefits of propane as a superior energy source

Mike will represent District 2 which covers the counties of Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth, Hancock, Cerro Gordo, Mitchell, Floyd, Humboldt, Wright, Franklin and Butler.

Learn more and read the indepth interview with Mike published in the IPGA newsletter by visiting:www.viafield.com/IPGA

Chris MenkeMarketing Leader

Our charitable giving is based on a simple philosophy: by targeting our contributions toward entities with the greatest impact on our team members, customers, stakeholders and businesses, we are able to make the greatest difference and continue to help our communities grow with opportunity.

As most of you are probably aware, we get hundreds of requests for donations every year and trying to make sure our philosophy is fulfilled can be a difficult task. One way you can help make it easier is to ensure the Viafield Contribution Request Form is completed by each requester and sent to me at the Central Office. Not only does this allow for tracking of the request but it usually makes the process of approval much, much faster.

If you would like to share more information about the process, visit our Community Giving section of the Viafield website. The request form can also be downloaded or printed from that page as well.

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Viafield Location SpotlightGetting to know our locations and team better

Winthrop, IaThe Viafield Winthrop location is located in the heart of the City of Winthrop and is in the far southeast corner of our trade territory. This location was orignally constructed and called the Winthrop Elevator. In 1998, the Arlington Cooperative acquired the Winthrop Elevator. Then in 2002 the Arlington Cooperative merged Maynard and Valley Cooperative to become Northeast Iowa Coop. And lastly, Northeast Iowa Coop merged to become Viafield in 2010.

Winthrop supports all of Viafield’s business divisions with a storage capacity of 750,000 bushels of grain.

The Winthrop team is made of 2 individuals which include:

Charlie Hamilton - Location Team LeaderJimSchweitzer-GrainOperations•Part-time

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Grain Storage Capacity: 725,000 bushelsFull Time Team Members: 1Railroad: Canadian NationalServices: Grain storage, bagged feed, LP (sales, service, delivery), refined fuel (sales, delivery) and agronomy salesHours:Monday-Friday:7:30am-4:30pm•Saturday/Sunday:CheckwithlocationRegional Operations Leader: Rick Davis

A D D I T I O N S

John Ault

Position:Grain Operations

Locations:Maynard

Start Date:March 7, 2016

Welcome

To TheTeam!

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Name: Amanda Starr

Postition/Location: CustomerService•Rudd

Start Date: November 3, 2014

Hometown: Rockwell, Iowa

Educational Background: West Fork High School, Accounting Classes at NIACC

Tell us about your family. I have a 6 year old son named Preston who enjoys hot wheels and trains.

What do you like most about your career at Viafield? There is room to grow and opportunities to move into difference areas.

Why did you choose Viafield? I wanted a job that would lead to a career that was also close to home. It was also recommended by another team member.

Tell us about your career at the cooperative and what role you play in the success of the organization? I am a Customer Service Representative at the Rudd location. I play an intrical role in billing, shipping, receiving, inventory, and customer service.

How does Viafield provide growing opportunities for you? Giving me the opportunity to attend Cultivating Excellence 1.0 has really allowed me to look at things in a new way and will allow me to advance to new responsibilities within Viafield.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Spend time with Preston and drink wine. :)

Team Member SpotlightGet to know your fellow team members better.

Nominate A Team Member For The Next

Is there a team member you would like to see highlighted in the next Team Member Spotlight?

Send your name suggestion to Chris Menke at cmenke@viafield.com with a short description of why you feel they are remarkable.

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A number of Team Members will be celebrating their birthdays in April. Here’s your reminder to send them best wishes on their special day.

Brian Branstad April 6 NorthwoodTrevor Mitts April 9 C-store Josh Heagel April 11 ManlyShirley Durnan April 11 C-storeRandy Koch April 14 LamontTravis Krull April 15 Marble RockTim Nemecheck April 16 ElginRon Larson April 16 NorthwoodChris Ludwig April 23 Charles CityAustin Teeling April 24 ArlingtonChris Bausch April 27 OelweinJoe Paulson April 28 GraftonRichard Bauer April 28 Northwood

Stay in touch with your cooperative through our social media outlets.

Copyright © 2016 Viafield, a cooperative. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the express written permission of Viafield is prohibited.

AnniversariesTeam Member Hire Date Years Location

Roger Loftsgard Apr. 2, 1979 37 Clermont

Lyle Chambers Apr. 22, 1981 35 Rockford

Darwin Tabbert Apr. 1, 1984 32 Northwood

Mike Katcher Apr. 30, 1987 29 Marble Rock

Steve Bodensteiner Apr. 1, 1991 25 Charles City

Randy Koch Apr. 9, 1991 25 Lamont

Les Amundson Apr. 8, 1996 20 Clermont

Gus Engels Apr. 1, 1999 17 Rudd

Matt Shoars Apr. 4, 2000 16 Rudd

Gary Larson Apr. 9. 2001 15 Elgin

Henrietta Delarosa Apr. 1, 2004 12 C-store

Al Behrends Apr. 22, 2004 12 Maynard

Aaron Woltzen Apr. 3, 2006 10 Rudd

Travis Krull Apr. 1, 2007 9 Marble Rock

Dean Peterson Apr. 1, 2007 9 Rudd

Mike Kuboushek Apr. 15, 2008 8 Clermont

Geoff Seidel Apr. 7, 2012 4 Clermont

Bob Odegard Apr. 22, 2013 3 Elgin

Colton Feldt Apr. 23. 2014 3 Grafton

Trevor Mitts Apr. 15, 2014 2 C-store

Adam Buseman Apr. 21, 2014 2 Charles City

Jess Mayer Apr. 21, 2014 2 Charles City

Matt Fedeler Apr. 13, 2015 1 Randalia

Dan Sheckles Apr. 13, 2015 1 Arlington

Debra Ziegmann Apr. 14, 2015 1 C-store

Happy Birthday

April 21, 2016 - Safety Meeting - Charles City - 9:30-11:30

REMEMBER: SAFETY FIRST THIS SPRING PLANTING SEASON!

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