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The logo of Monfort Management Services, Inc.
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Monfort Management Services,Inc.

Our Services

We handle all of the functions and problems normally faced by Advisory Boards and Commissions.

MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Purpose
Monfort Management Services was established as a public relations and management consulting service. Circumstances and experience have led us to our current situation of being specialists in commodity Advisory Board and Commission management. Our experience spans more than forty-five years, and our staff is chosen and trained to handle all of the functions and problems normally faced by Advisory Boards and Commissions. Our principal function is to provide a professional staff for our client Boards, thus giving them full time coverage, while only charging for the time necessary to complete the tasks included in their annual contracts.

Philosophy
We believe our clients are best served by treating each as an individual. This means that each client has its own manager and assistant manager who are concerned with the needs of that individual industry. It also allows them to become familiar with how the industry functions by personal visits to production sites and research centers. MMS has a multi-talented staff available with the flexibility to cover a wide range of needs.

Leadership
Striking a balance between leadership and listening is an important aspect of our business. Our clients have requested leadership in the areas of promotion, interfacing with CDFA, meetings, data gathering and regulatory requests. We have responded to these regulatory and data gathering requests, and produced results ranging from a letter to documents of over 100 pages. Often we are the only ones to possess the information and contacts needed to complete the job.

Leadership must be balanced with listening since most of our clients are self-directed commodity boards. We seek to allow the industry to set its own goals and objectives, then work to carry them out. Our management staff understands that those we serve know their industry best.

Meetings
One of the more visible areas of service to our clients is in the area of meetings. We are experienced in setting up a wide variety of meetings in very diverse settings. Meeting experience ranges from those in the field to multi-day conferences. Our staff maintains a list of diverse meeting facilities to serve the unique needs of our clients.

COMMUNICATION SERVICES

Newsletters
Information delivered in a timely fashion to our clients has been a hallmark of Monfort Management Services. Many different layouts of two and four page newsletters have been used over the years to ensure that growers of our various commodities stay well informed. Newsletters have been produced for the Bean, Peach, Melon and Celery Boards.

Annual Reports
Many of our clients’ activities are oriented toward research. The natural outcome of this research is scientific reports. We serve in the capacity of gathering, composing, reproducing and, at times, publishing these scientific reports. This keeps the industry fully informed of the progress of the research it is funding. We also realize that research reports are sometimes difficult to interpret; therefore, We have at times created a “Grower Summary” for each report to put the results into a short, readable form. This allows for quick skimming of the report for relevant information. Annual reports occur in lengths from a two-page financial summary to nearly 100-page technical reports.

Seminars
We are familiar with the process of setting up seminars, symposiums or field days for researchers to explain new techniques, display varietal trials and interface with growers. We have been instrumental in staging a biennial Alfalfa Seed Symposium since 1975 and have organized multi-day Conferences in their entirety for 300 or more people.

Occasions arise that warrant a special meeting of the growers with farm advisors and/or UC personnel. We try to be sensitive to the needs of the industry and arrange for these types of meetings when necessary. Up-to-date lists are maintained of the individuals and companies interested so that contacts may be made promptly.

Mailing Lists
Our computer program enables us to keep up to date with the ever changing lists of handlers, producers and interested parties related to an industry. Constant contact with industry members through assessment collections allows for consistent tracking of address changes. Of course, all producer lists are kept confidential and handler lists are subject to Board control.

Special Projects
Situations arise that cause clients to request information to which we have access. For instance, we have surveyed clients regarding their needs for chemical controls, crop growing practices and other areas where research is needed. We are experienced in gathering statistical information regarding crop harvest, crop movement, literature requests and other forms of information. Custom software is often utilized to keep track of information which is then analyzed for use by our clients.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Assessments
Since 1983, the State of California has allowed Advisory Boards to collect and bank their own assessments. Monfort Management Services’ response to this change resulted in a significant cost savings to its clients. Our present custom system provides significantly improved accuracy and flexibility. The complete sequence–report mailing, assessment collection and tracking and investing/interest distribution–is handled by this office. The State assists with enforcement and auditing of assessment records.

Investments
One of the key, efficient and effective management tools used by us involves investing surplus funds of the Boards and Commissions. By obtaining permission from the State to use only one bank and one investment account for all our State-related clients, we have not only streamlined the payment of bills (writing a single check to the phone company, State or University to cover bills for several Boards), but we have also increased the Boards’ investment income. Very often, an individual Board’s assessment income and reserve funds will fluctuate considerably during a fiscal year, and this would ordinarily cause problems with cash flow and investments. Our system overcomes this potential liability. While the individual accounts are kept strictly separate, pooling the surplus funds of all the clients into a single investment account allows us to invest larger sums of money with our investment advisor, Merrill Lynch, for longer periods of time. This garners the Boards the highest possible interest rates available, while using fully insured investments.

To ensure that a Board gets its proper share of the pooled interest income, each Board is credited with its proportionate share of the total interest income, based upon that Board’s fund balance on the first of each month.

Client Accounting
Custom software is used to account for the income and outgo of client funds. This software was developed with an auditor’s recommendations to assure integrity and proper reporting. The system provides an accurate, comprehensive audit trail with usable reports. Clients receive a complete, timely report of their financial status each month.

Audits
Each of our individual clients, as well as the entire process of investments and all of our system-wide functions, are audited on an annual basis by an independent certified public accounting firm. These annual Board audits are made available to the client and include not only a financial audit, but also the CDFA mandated compliance audit on each of our clients as well.

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