In a press release received from Northeast Texas Farmer’s CO-OP, operating locations in Sulphur Springs, Greenville, Canton, and Clarksville.
Your Ag Cooperative’s Feed Mills, Farm & Ranch Centers, and Fertilizer Plants remain open for business under our Homeland Security Essential Critical Infrastructure designation. As all of us experience the incredible uncertainty surrounding our World since March, I want to recognize our “Front Line” folks that serve you on a daily basis. They/we have practiced sanitizing and cleanliness to a degree we never thought obtainable. But…what risks were/are they taking engaging in daily face-to-face interaction? Our folks have done it and done it well.
The business and governance structure of your Co-op continue despite the Pandemic. Our Year-end was March 31, 2020. With that comes our Year-end Audit. Your Board of Directors and our Management Staff are working closely with the Auditors to assure that the year-end inventories and financial results are verified accurate. The Audit process will take approximately another month to complete. It has been both virtual and physical in scope.
Now, let us talk about our Northeast Texas Farmers Co-op Annual Meeting scheduled for the first Thursday in June. We will NOT have our Annual Meeting on June 4 th. Your Board and management are working with our Auditor, Co-op Attorney Gary McLaren, and other folks to determine our By-Law obligations and legal obligations to our NETFC Members. It is our obligation to have the Annual Meeting, but the timing of it very likely could be pushed out as far as late next Fall. Some of these questions are tough to answer because there is no precedence. We are actively practicing the “Do The Right Thing Doctrine”. I and our Board wish we had more definitive answers for you on this May 11th date of writing, but we don’t. What can we assure you of? Your Cooperative is in good Board Governance and Management Staff hands.
What I can be definitive about is the fact that 100% of our employees are showing up to work on your behalf. Agriculture is Essential Critical Infrastructure to Our Counties, Our State, and our Country. You are in need Essential Critical support in your agricultural operation, and our Cooperative was formed to do just that.
Stay safe and may we all continue knowing that we walk daily in His Grace and in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
