Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

An evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of the Company’s management, including the Chief Executive Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), as of December 31, 2023. Based on that evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, due to the material weakness described below.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The Company’s management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). The Company’s internal control system is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer, the Company’s management assessed the design and operating effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on the framework set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework). Based on this assessment, management concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, due to the material weakness described below.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of a company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because the control deficiency described below could have resulted in a material misstatement of its annual or interim financial statements, the Company determined that this deficiency constitutes a material weakness.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, in connection with the Investigation, the Company identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting practices and procedures for intersegment sales. The material weakness resulted from inadequate controls that allowed for certain intersegment sales to be reported at amounts that were not in accordance with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Specifically, the Company did not have adequate controls in place around measurement of certain intersegment sales between the Nutrition reporting segment and the Ag Services and Oilseeds and Carbohydrate Solutions reporting segments. The absence of adequate controls with respect to the reporting of intersegment sales impacted the accuracy of the Company’s segment disclosures and review controls over projected financial information utilized in goodwill and other long-lived asset impairment tests.

Notwithstanding such material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and interim Chief Financial Officer have concluded that the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K present fairly, in all material respects, the Company’s financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for the periods presented in conformity with GAAP.

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has issued an attestation report on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. That report is included herein.

Remediation Plan

The Company is implementing enhancements to its internal controls to remediate the identified material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting practices and procedures for intersegment sales and to enhance the reliability of its financial statements with respect to the pricing and reporting of such sales. Specifically, the Company is: (i) enhancing the Company’s accounting policies with respect to the measurement of intersegment sales; (ii) improving and documenting the Company’s pricing guidelines for intersegment sales; (iii) enhancing the design and documentation of the execution of pricing and measurement controls for segment disclosure purposes and projected financial information used in impairment analyses; and (iv) increasing training for relevant personnel on the measurement of and application of relevant accounting guidance to intersegment sales.

While the Company believes that these efforts will improve its internal control over financial reporting, the Company will not be able to conclude whether the steps the Company is taking will remediate the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting until a sustained period of time has passed to allow management to test the design and operational effectiveness of the new and enhanced controls.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The Company is implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system on a worldwide basis, which is expected to occur in phases over the next several years. In 2023, the Company deployed the ERP system to 18 legal entities. The Company has appropriately considered this change in its design of and testing for effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and concluded, as part of the evaluation described above, the implementation of the new ERP system in these instances has not materially affected its internal control over financial reporting.

Except for the material weakness described above and the related remediation measures that are being implemented, there have been no changes in internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.