At CHS, an Ethical Business Approach Is a Key for Success
March 26, 2025 Famed comedian and actor George Burns once quipped: “The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you’ve got it made.”
With all due respect to Mr. Burns, that notion might work is relationships, but when it comes to business, especially the agriculture business, trust must be earned. To that end, CHS has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
Brandon Smith, CHS
“CHS has an unwavering commitment to our values,” explains Brandon Smith, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at CHS. “Integrity is one of our four core values and one that is critical to the work we do with our customers, owners, employees and other stakeholders throughout the world. We believe in and stress the importance of maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct across our business.”
In all, Ethisphere recognized 136 companies spanning 19 countries and 44 industries. In addition to CHS, eight companies were in the Food, Beverage, and Agriculture category.
“We continually focus on our commitment to operating with integrity and conducting business in an ethical manner across our trade territory,” Smith says. “We also conduct regular training on our Code of Conduct, which emphasizes our expectations of our employees in terms of how they operate with our employees, owners and customers.”
To be considered among the World’s Most Ethical Companies designation, companies must provide more than 240 proof points on practices that support robust ethics and compliance; governance; a culture of ethics; environmental and social impact; and initiatives that support a strong value chain,” CHS explained in a news release announcing the recognition.
“Because integrity is among our four core company values and we consider it necessary for our company’s continued success, we have a robust compliance and ethics team,” Smith says. “This team works with our leaders, people managers and employees to ensure that our processes, business practices and work habits are done in an ethical manner. We also conduct annual ethics and compliance training to keep this value top of mind for our employees.”
The company has no intention of resting on this laurel.
“Our participation in this recognition program gives us independent benchmarking that will help us identify areas where CHS can continue to enhance our compliance and ethics programs,” Smith says. “At CHS, we understand that ethical behaviors and practices are fundamental to our business success. This commitment stems from being a values-driven company, with integrity as one of our four core values. We owe it to our owners, customers and our communities to only conduct business one way – with integrity. We firmly believe that this approach leads to stronger performance and better outcomes for CHS – and all of our stakeholders.
The eight other companies recognized in the Food, Beverage & Agriculture category included: ADM (U.S.), Charoen Pokphand Group (Thailand), Grupo Bimbo (Mexico), Ingredion (U.S.), J.M. Smucker Co. (U.S.), Kellanova (U.S.), PepsiCo, Inc. (U.S.), Hershey Co. (U.S.)
John Deere was also recognized in the Industrial Manufacturing category.
“Earning this recognition is a tremendous honor for the company and an indicator that our compliance and ethics programs are providing our employees with a road map for doing the right thing,” Smith continues.
The full list of honorees is found here. The full CHS press release is here.
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