Today Farmland Industries, Inc. unveiled Farmland Dedicated Grains, an online merchandising and traceability application for trait-specific and identity-preserved grains. Dedicated Grains allows producers to receive more value for their identity preserved grains; cooperatives to play a pivotal role in identifying qualified producers and certifying grain for the program; and processors to gain operational efficiencies and satisfy consumer demands. 

Farmland Dedicated Grains is the first value-enhanced grain program to appear on the Web.
Unlike other online grain exchanges, Dedicated Grains provides its users with data warehousing
capabilities for storing and sharing detailed production and grain profile data. This information
helps producers market their crops in a way that captures value beyond the farm gate, according
to Ken Thomas, director of Farmland Grain Processing. 

"For grain growers of the 21st century, information is gold," Thomas said. "The more information
producers can provide about their grain, the more potential they have for achieving a better market
position. Information and quality assurance are worth more dollars per bushel."

Technology for the Dedicated Grains Web-based program was developed by VantagePoint
Network , LLC. Using VantagePoint’s Internet-based technology, Dedicated Grains producers and their crop consultants can create field maps, develop field histories and track bin inventories, both on and off the farm. In addition, producers can choose to post grain trait or characteristics information on the Web, including grain type, variety and characteristics as determined from qualifying samples analyzed at Farmland’s Grain Quality Research Lab in Bonner Springs, Kan.

Initially, Farmland Dedicated Grains will concentrate on all varieties of wheat, eventually expanding to include other grains, with corn and soybeans being the most immediate followers. Ultimately, Farmland hopes to make Dedicated Grains an internationally recognized seal of grain quality assurance.

Traditionally, producers have tightly held specific grain information. But this will eventually change, according to Thomas, as they become more comfortable with Internet security.

"Producers already realize that the more information they share, the better their reward potential
is," he said. 

Membership in Farmland Dedicated Grains is free of charge. When program sign-up becomes
available online, producers will choose from a menu of marketing options. 

"We’ve designed the program to be flexible. Producers can choose whether to market their own
grain themselves or to use their local cooperative traders. And local cooperatives can decide
whether or not they want to tap into the logistical and marketing expertise of Farmland’s grain
merchandising group," Thomas said.

Producers interested in signing up for Dedicated Grains immediately can call (800) 822-8263, ext.
5372, to receive a password and directions for program participation.

Ed Connor, director of commodities management for Farmland’s North American Grain Division
(NAGD), said the main goal of Dedicated Grains is to add value to the producer link in the food
chain. "Instead of selling a mass commodity, we’re marketing specific grains for our producers,"
Connor said. "Through the Dedicated Grains program, we can tell our customers what we have
and the value attached to it because we have experience on the processing side to determine that
grain’s intrinsic value to any processor’s operation."

Over the years, NAGD has established an impressive track record in marketing trait-specific,
identity preserved (IP) grains domestically and around the world. 

Kermit Gilbreath, Apache Farmers Cooperative, Apache, Okla., plans to send 40,000 bushels of
his local producers’ wheat through the program. "Our producers have been producing high protein
wheat for years, but it has been tough getting premiums. Grain quality programs like Dedicated
Grains will help our producers get paid for their protein because it gives us an online information
back-up," Gilbreath said. 

Further downstream, in the output side of the food chain, the value of the Dedicated Grains is
more immediately measurable, in the efficient manufacturing of branded grain-based food
products. "Through Dedicated Grains, processors can obtain a high quality, consistent grain supply that’s certified to fit their needs," Thomas said. 

"We want to satisfy consumers while helping producers, local cooperatives and processors reap
the benefits," Thomas said. "And someday, we’d like to get to the point where Farmland
Dedicated Grains is perceived as a type of Good Housekeeping Seal of grain-based food
products." 

VantagePoint Network, LLC (www.vantagepoint.com), Fort Collins, Colo., a limited liability
company of Deere & Company, Farmland Industries, Inc., and GROWMARK, Inc., is an
Internet-based, information-sharing network designed to help members create and capture value in the consumer-driven food chain. VantagePoint is the recipient of the international AE50 2000
award, which recognizes technological excellence in helping producers and manufacturers reduce
costs, improve quality and increase profits.

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., (www.farmland.com) is a farmer-owned
cooperative with 1999 sales of $10.7 billion in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Focused
on meeting the needs of its 600,000 farmer-owners in the United States, Canada and Mexico,
Farmland is a highly diversified company with major business lines in crop production and crop
protection products, livestock feeds, petroleum, grain processing and marketing, and the
processing and marketing of pork, beef and catfish products. Farmland North American Grain is
one of the top 10 grain handlers in the U.S.

Company news release
N3069