Wheat Growers' Board Vice President Jeff Lakner Elected to Land O'Lakes, Inc., Corporate Board

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. and WESSINGTON, S.D., March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Land O'Lakes, Inc., is pleased to announce the election of Jeff Lakner as a Director on its Corporate Board. Lakner, who operates Lakner Farms, LLC, was elected Feb. 26 at the Fortune 200 food and agricultural cooperative's Annual Meeting in Minneapolis.

A fourth-generation farmer, Lakner has owned and operated Lakner Farms for more than 30 years, growing the enterprise to a 4,500 acre diversified grain and livestock farm in east central South Dakota.  Prior to that, he was a Farm Credit System lender in Iowa and Nebraska.

Lakner is a board member of South Dakota Wheat Growers Association and is on the governing board of Dakotas Americas and Dakota Resources. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University and is a member of the AgriCapital Advisory Group. Lakner was named Farmer Cooperative Director of the Year by the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) in 2010.

The Land O'Lakes Corporate Board is responsible for representing the interests of the cooperative's ag service (local cooperatives and individual growers) and dairy members when determining company policy and business objectives. Lakner will be one of two Directors representing Region 5, which includes Land O'Lakes, Inc., member cooperatives in nine states in the northwestern United States and Alaska and Hawaii. With 62 local cooperatives in South Dakota alone, Land O'Lakes' total ag service business volume in the state exceeds $350 million.

Lakner received his bachelor's degree in Agribusiness and Finance from South Dakota State University in Brookings. He also studied accounting and marketing at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and agribusiness at Harvard Business School. 

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.
Headquartered in Arden Hills, MN, Land O'Lakes, Inc., is one of America's premier agribusiness and food companies and is a member-owned cooperative with industry-leading operations that span the spectrum from farm production to consumer foods. With 2013 annual sales of $14.2 billion, Land O'Lakes, Inc., is one of the nation's largest cooperatives, ranking #194 on the Fortune 500. Building on a legacy of more than 93 years of operation, Land O'Lakes, Inc., today operates some of the most respected brands in agribusiness and food production including LAND O LAKES^® Dairy Foods, Purina Animal Nutrition, WinField and Geosys. The company does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Land O'Lakes International Development is a division of the company helping to transform lives through agriculture and enterprise partnerships that are enhancing profitability and food security in developing countries around the world. Since 1981, this division has helped generate economic growth and improve the quality of life for millions of people through more than 275 projects in 76 developing nations.

SOURCE Land O'Lakes, Inc.