CHS, a farmer-owned cooperative, reported net income of $1.1 billion for fiscal 2026, nearly double the previous year, driven primarily by strong refining margins in its Energy segment and robust oilseed crush and ethanol margins in its Grains segment, despite ongoing weakness in the U.S. farm economy.
- CHS reported $1.1 billion net income for fiscal 2026, up from $597.9 million in fiscal 2025
- Energy segment earnings surged $573.6 million to $554.6 million, driven by improved refining margins from global market dynamics
- Grains segment pretax earnings rose $83.4 million to $127.4 million on strong oilseed crush and ethanol margins tied to biofuel blending obligations
- Consolidated revenues increased to $39.2 billion from $35.5 billion, largely due to higher commodity prices
- CHS plans to distribute $300 million to owners in fiscal 2027, including $150 million in cash patronage and up to $150 million in equity redemptions
CHS reported net income of $1.1 billion for its fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2026, up from $597.9 million a year earlier, as refining, oilseed crush and ethanol margins carried the farmer-owned cooperative through a soft farm economy.
The cooperative released the results Wednesday in its fiscal 2026 earnings announcement. Consolidated revenues rose to $39.2 billion from $35.5 billion, which CHS attributed largely to higher commodity prices. Income before income taxes reached $1.13 billion, up from $614.8 million in fiscal 2025.
Jay Debertin, president and CEO of CHS, credited the company's mix of businesses for the gains.
"Our results demonstrate the strength of our diversified businesses and strategic supply chain investments," Debertin said. "While market and policy conditions continued to shift and create volatility throughout the year, our teams executed exceptionally well across our operations, allowing us to capture opportunities in energy and agriculture markets while continuing to serve our owners."
Refining margins drive the turnaround
The Energy segment, which covers refined fuels, propane and lubricants, posted the largest swing. Pretax earnings reached $554.6 million, a $573.6 million improvement from a pretax loss of $19 million the year before.
CHS said much better refining margins, driven by global market dynamics, and strong operations at its refineries following recent capital investments powered the gain. Unrealized hedging losses and record-high expenses for renewable identification numbers, or RINs, partly offset those margins. RINs are the credits refiners use to show compliance with federal biofuel blending requirements. Reduced blending obligations at the company's refinery in Laurel, Montana, eased some of that compliance cost.
Crush and ethanol margins lift grains
The same biofuel policy that raised refining costs helped the grain side. Pretax earnings in the Grains segment, which includes feed grains, oilseeds, wheat, specialty grains and animal nutrition, rose $83.4 million to $127.4 million.
CHS cited strong oilseed crush margins in the second half of the fiscal year, driven by demand tied to increasing biofuel blending obligations. Solid feed grain export volumes and strong ethanol margins, which the company linked to U.S. policy, also contributed. Continued global trade volatility and weakening retail margins partly offset those gains.
Agronomy volumes slip
The Agronomy segment, covering crop nutrients, crop protection and the CF Nitrogen joint venture, earned $354.6 million before taxes, down $20.6 million from the prior year.
CF Nitrogen performed well on favorable market conditions for urea and urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN. Lower volumes offset that strength as U.S. farmers deferred purchasing decisions. Margins on agronomy products also fell, which CHS attributed to strong competition and negative market dynamics. The company tied the lower volumes to ongoing weakness in the U.S. farm economy.
Joint venture earnings fall
Pretax earnings in the Corporate and Services segment fell $122.4 million to $92.1 million. The segment includes CHS Capital, CHS Hedging and the company's Ardent Mills and Ventura Foods joint ventures. CHS pointed to lower equity method earnings from its joint ventures and a 2025 gain on the sale of a business by Ventura Foods that did not recur in 2026.venturafoods
CHS reorganized its financial segments starting in fiscal 2026 to align with a new end-to-end product line operating model, and it recast prior-year segment figures to match.
Cash returns and new plants
CHS plans to distribute $300 million to its owners in fiscal 2027, about 150% more than its fiscal 2026 distribution. The total includes $150 million in cash patronage and up to $150 million in equity redemptions. Once those payments are complete, CHS said it will have returned more than $2.7 billion to owners during the past five years.
"These planned cash returns to our owners demonstrate the benefits of CHS ownership and the CHS Board of Directors' commitment to sharing profits with our owners and strengthening rural communities, while investing in our businesses," Debertin said.
The cooperative is also committing capital to processing and fertilizer production. CHS and OCP North America have proposed a joint venture phosphate fertilizer plant at the Cornerstone Energy Park in Waggaman, Louisiana, a project CHS now values at nearly $450 million. CHS is also developing an approximately $700 million soybean processing plant near Evansville, Wisconsin. The plant is designed to process 80 million bushels of soybeans a year and would raise the company's soybean processing capacity by about two-thirds.ocpna+2
Pending project-related approvals, CHS expects both facilities to be operational in late 2028 or 2029.
