The annual meeting of MFA Incorporated will be held Nov. 20 in Columbia, Mo. But take note that this year, MFA's annual meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center, just off I-70 on the western edge of Columbia. For the past few years, we had held the meeting at the University of Missouri. Our theme for this year's meeting is "The power of innovation and service." We chose that theme for a variety of reasons. Webster defines innovation as introducing a new process or way of doing things. Considering today's rapidly changing agricultural environment and all of the evolving technology surrounding agriculture, we all must adapt to new processes and new ways of doing things if we are to stay current and viable.

Business coach Peter Drucker is famous for, among other things, saying that change is mandatory for survival. But survival, he warns, is not mandatory. In other words, those of us who plan to survive must embrace change. I can assure you MFA is a survivor. We will continue to adapt to change, to new processes and to new ways of performing today's tasks. The word "service" in our theme should not require any explanation. After all, MFA's reputation has been built on almost a century of providing top-quality service to our customers, who, since we are a cooperative, are also our owners.

Through the efforts of generations of employees, MFA has established and maintained a reputation of providing outstanding customer service with honesty and integrity. It is a reputation we will continue to build. When you combine our reputation for service with our commitment to adopting new processes and new ways of doing things, you'll find a powerful combination, as our theme indicates.

We have taken steps to put MFA in a better position to withstand the changing environment that surrounds our industry by being innovative and adaptive. Look no further than our livestock operations group. Consider the positive benefits that have resulted in forming individual marketing groups for our independent swine producers and the outstanding reputation for effectiveness, integrity and thoroughness that our MFA Health Track Beef Alliance has achieved in a very short time.

In addition, we have formed several joint ventures over the last few years that have allowed us to expand our reach in the marketplace. Consider, too, our acquisition of several new locations this past year--the two locations of the Thompson cooperative in central Missouri, the eight locations in southeast Kansas (called AG Choice) and the Glasgow Cooperative Association which merged its three locations into our organization. Glasgow is in central Missouri on the Missouri River and brings us expanded grain-handling ability.

All of these new locations and joint ventures brought us additional volume. That's not by accident. MFA's corporate vision statement says we will continue to look for ways to grow the company in our core business lines. We will do that without taking on additional debt unless we are confident that the debt can be paid back in a reasonable amount of time. Simultaneously, we are positioning ourselves to import additional fertilizer from offshore simply because economics dictate that course of action.

The formation of ASIL (our precision ag information lab) and our continued efforts in precision ag technology are other examples of our commitment to innovation. Then, too, consider our efforts in developing a presence on the Internet that allows us to link even closer to our customer/owners. These efforts as well as many others clearly demonstrate that MFA truly does use the power of innovation and service.

The innovation and service are reflected in our continued progress in making money on our own operations. Last year, if you recall, we generated more profit on our own operations than at any other time in our history. Traditionally, cooperatives like MFA were able to count on patronage checks from interregional investments. In today's business environment as shown by last winter's natural-gas crisis and the resulting nitrogen crisis, those checks have disappeared. We don't look for them to return in the near future. That makes it imperative for us to be profitable on our own operations.

We continue to achieve that profitability, and I am extremely proud of our managers and their dedicated employees for meeting the challenge of generating a respectable profit on our own operations again this year. We're still a ways from the books being closed, but I expect MFA to return a pre-tax profit of around $7.5 million. Had the weather cooperated, that profit would have been higher.

We will continue to focus on innovating, on adapting to new ways of benefiting our customer/owners and on providing outstanding customer service. The majority of MFA's employees share one important thing with you and with me: we love agriculture. That love motivates us through the good days and the frustrating days. But we all know that agriculture, after all, is the moral fiber and backbone of this great nation. Thank you for your continued business, support and efforts that allow MFA to maintain the outstanding reputation we enjoy.