OVERLAND PARK, KAN. — Even as he prepares to step away from day-to-day responsibilities, Patrick E. Bowe, president and chief executive officer of The Andersons, Maumee, Ohio, is anything but tired of the agricultural commodity business that has been the central focus of his career for four decades.

“We just had our quarterly employee town hall, and I told our team I wish I was 22 and starting out my career at The Andersons because I think there’s so much opportunity right now,” Bowe said.

Together with his successor as CEO William E. Krueger, Bowe sat down for an interview last month at the company’s Overland Park offices with Milling & Baking News, shortly after announcing his impending retirement.

Based in Maumee, The Andersons’ grain business has a significant presence in the soft red states, the hard winter states, the inter-mountain region and along the Delta. It is also a major player in ethanol and agricultural input markets.

The specific needs of downstream customers, namely consumer packaged goods companies, including regenerative agriculture and low carbon-intensity outcomes, have created new horizons of opportunity for the grain business, Bowe said.

“We’re well positioned with the many growers we work with,” he said. “We’re a domestic supplier, and although we trade internationally, we’re really focused on our domestic customers. And there’s a lot of potential there.”

For flour millers and other grain processors, The Andersons has several sustainability and sourcing programs with wheat and corn. “Our wheat programs are focused on customers who want specific varieties and traceability,” Krueger said.

“The flour mills know that if they do a program with The Andersons, we are going to deliver the product they want, and our producers trust we are going to bring them programs that will make their farms more profitable.”

Krueger joined The Andersons after its acquisition of Lansing Trade Group, a business he led. Krueger and Bowe agree about the value of The Andersons’ acquisition of Lansing, five years after the deal’s completion.

“While The Andersons was really strong in the east, Lansing was relatively strong in the western Corn Belt,” Krueger said. “Being able to take market information and use it across the entire company has really created a lot of benefits. It truly is a case of one plus one equals three.”

Bowe said the benefits extend beyond the geographic pluses.

“Lansing was in many more product lines, especially in the feed segment,” he said. “We were more of a traditional grain company — corn, wheat, beans — so we’ve really grown those areas. For example, we got bigger in pet food ingredients. There are a lot of specialty markets where we add value.”

Bowe described financial and other positives coming from the Lansing acquisition. In addition to solidifying The Andersons’ position with customers who had broad geographic footprints, the deal, combined with the sale of a rail service business at nearly the same time, made the company easier for investors to understand.

Even though The Andersons has not made large acquisitions in ethanol along the lines of the Lansing deal, Bowe said the business has grown during his tenure through consolidation and plant additions.

“We’re interested in growing in renewables,” he said. “You could see us getting bigger in ethanol in the future. Now, with the potential for SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), ethanol for jets, ethanol is strong. To be successful in ethanol, you have to have really efficient, large-scale plants in good locations, and we’re fortunate to have that. We also have the potential to add carbon capture and sequestration projects, which we are exploring to make low CI ethanol (ethanol produced using less energy than traditional production techniques).”

While earnings volatility remains a reality for The Andersons, Krueger said the Lansing acquisition has helped tamp down the swings.

“We went through a wet year in 2019 for our eastern Corn Belt grain assets,” Krueger said. “Having a western presence helped us. Likewise, 2022-23 was pretty dry in the west, while the east had pretty good crops.”

Bowe expressed pride in numerous financial objectives achieved during his tenure as he prepares to retire. In addition to hitting steadily rising EBITDA goals in recent years, Bowe described the company’s balance sheets as the strongest ever. While earnings in 2024 have been below 2023 record levels, he said the company appears poised for growth. In June, the company said it was exploring an investment in Ulysses, Kan.-based Skyland Grain, LLC, which operates 72 grain facilities across the hard red winter states.

Krueger noted that Skyland would give The Andersons a greater presence in southern parts of the hard winter states and allow the company to build out an agronomy business in the Southwest modeled on its presence in that business in the eastern Corn Belt. Rapid expansion in animal counts in southwestern Kansas, with cattle and dairy production growing, add to the attraction.

“It’s a big demand point for arbitrage and trading, and we do much of that today,” Bowe said. “But this would help. If you’re a grain merchant, go where the demand is. It’s like Wayne Gretzky’s, ‘Skate to where the puck is going to be.’”