ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, U.S. — CHS Inc. reported on July 9 a 51% increase in earnings for the third due to a one-time gain in creation of a new flour milling joint venture and stronger performance from the company’s retail agronomy, crop nutrients and grain marketing businesses.

The company reported earnings of $379.5 million, up from $250.8 million in the same period in 2013. 

At almost $12 billion, revenues for the quarter were comparable to the same three-month period of fiscal 2013.

CHS reported earnings of $881.7 million through the first nine months of its 2014 fiscal year, an increase of 1% from the $869.6 million reported in 2013. Revenues for nine months were $32.7 billion, down 3% from $33.5 billion for the same period a year ago, primarily due to lower average grain prices.

Earnings for the CHS Ag segment increased through the third quarter as a result of strong logistical performance within grain marketing, higher agronomy margins and service income generated by the company's Country Operations retail locations, and improved wholesale crop nutrients performance.

CHS reports results for its business services operations and its two food processing-related joint ventures under the corporate and other category which recorded improved profitability through the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Earnings increased significantly from the previous nine-month period due to a one-time gain of $108.8 million associated with the contribution of its Horizon Milling assets to the newly formed Ardent Mills joint venture and overall strong business performance.