Land O'Lakes earnings up sharply on slight revenue gain

Land O'Lakes reported third quarter earnings of $49.5 million, up 173 percent, on revenue of $3.1 billion, up 4 percent.

The Arden Hills-based agricultural cooperative attributed the improvement partly to its WinField Solutions division, which sells herbicides, insecticides and other "crop inputs."

"The crop inputs business, operating primarily under the WinField brand, is experiencing particularly strong earnings, driven by its expertise in the fast-growing area of precision agriculture that is based on technology-enabled data," the company said Tuesday.

Land O'Lakes also cited its dairy foods business, where earnings are being driven by its butter and cheese brands.