North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge

The 7th Annual North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge will be held on April 4-5, 2008 in Madison, Wisconsin and is being hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Farm Credit is a major supporter of this event nationally and regionally. Local ACA's, like Yankee, donate toward regional contests; the Northeast Ag Enhancement Fund helps support the regional contest in the NE; and the Farm Credit System Foundation has awarded NAIDC a $20,000 grant for support of the national and 4 regional contests this year! Farm Credit staff provides support through trainings for students in prepartion for the contests as well as at the actual contests filling various roles such as judges, organization, farm coordination, etc.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Jean Conklin from our White River Junction office is on the NAIDC Board of Directors!

VT Large Farm Dairy Conference

The 10th Vermont Large Farm Dairy Conference was held on February 26 in Colchester. More than 100 dairy farmers attended.

Trent Loos, a 6th generation farmer/rancher from Nebraska, encouraged farmers to proudly tell their story. Trent spoke about the forces in society that seek the demise of animal agriculture. He believes that large segments of our society have lost touch with the cycle of life. "Everything lives, everything dies, and death with a purpose brings full meaning to life."

Trent also showed two thought-provoking videos about dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO), otherwise known as H2O (water). You can read more about Trent Loos, and listen to his radio program, "Loos Tales," at Faces of Agriculture.

Jay Richardson, a 1st generation dairy farmer from Wisconsin, spoke about running a farm as a business. His advice: "Every morning think about whether or not you want to be a dairy farmer. If not, get out. Life is too short. If yes, figure it out." He also advised farmers to: "Run your own race." What works for someone else may not be what you need to succeed. Yankee Farm Credit sponsored Jay's presentation.

Additional presentations were made by Dr. Nigel Cook (cow comfort), Dr. Brian Perkins (feeding issues) and Dave Dunn (methane digesters). Attendees also heard from Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee and Governor Jim Douglas.

The conference was organized by UVM Extension, especially Dairy Herd Management Specialist Colleen Leonard, and a committee of volunteers from several of Vermont's large dairy farms.

Promotion - Marie

I am pleased to announce that Marie Guay, in our Chazy, NY office, has been promoted to Senior Loan Officer.

Marie started work for the Champlain Valley association in 1983 as an office assistant. Over the years Marie learned to provide recordkeeping services, passed the Tax Specialist exam, was promoted to Credit Analyst, and in 1998 was promoted to Loan Officer. This promotion to Senior Loan Officer recognizes the increasing responsibility that Marie has assumed in both credit and related services.

Congratulations, Marie!

St. Albans Co-op Annual Meeting

Congratulations to the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, Inc., which held its 89th annual meeting on Saturday, Feb. 23. At the left is Congressman Peter Welch addressing the members and guests.

Yankee's Shantel Thomas was one of the vendors present. Shantel enjoys educating farmers about the risk management benefits of crop insurance. She is pictured below with Glenn Rogers, Farm Management Specialist with UVM Extension.

If you have any questions about crop insurance, please e-mail Shantel or call her in our St. Albans office at 802-524-2938 or 800-545-1097.

NOFA VT Conference

Several staff members attended the NOFA VT 26th annual winter conference held February 16 and 17 at VTC in Randolph, VT. In the photo below Pam Simek and Kelly Langmaid stand ready to greet conference attendees.

Northeast Dairy Challenge

Mike Farmer and Marie Guay assisted with training in dairy farm profitability at Miner Institute in Chazy, NY on February 6th. This training is part of the Advanced Dairy Management class coordinated by Wanda Emerich as part of the UVM/VTC FARMS 2 + 2 Program.

Mike and Marie helped the students in this class prepare for the next Northeast Regional Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, which will be held October 30 - November 1, 2008 at Penn State. They presented a dairy farm case study which had been prepared by Don Rogers. Mike and Marie spent four hours on the 6th going over the case study and talking about how to evaluate farm finances. They will return on the 20th and spend another four hours listening to and evaluating the students' presentations of solutions for the case study.

This is the third year that Mike and Marie have done this, and they say the eight students in this year's class are a great group to work with. We wish them luck in the competition next November!

Vermont Capital Gains Taxes

Mike Moloney is a Senior Tax and Records Specialist in Yankee's White River Junction office. He is also an IRS Enrolled Agent. Yesterday Mike testified before the Vermont House Ways and Means Committee regarding the impact to dairy farmers of changes that the Vermont Legislature is considering to capital gains taxes.

The Federal capital gains tax is a reduced tax rate applied to 100% of the gain. The current Vermont state capital gains tax is the regular tax rate applied to 60% of the gain (i.e., 40% exemption). The proposed change would replace this by exempting the first $2,500 of capital gain income and taxing the remainder; in addition, the 40% exemption would continue to be available to taxpayers over age 65.

Vermont Farm Show

The 2008 Vermont Farm Show was held January 29 -31 at the Barre Civic Center in Barre, VT. Many exhibitors were on hand, including Yankee Farm Credit. Crop Insurance Agent Shantel Thomas, and Vice President Jeff Temple pictured below, were among the many Yankee staff attending the farm show.

Yankee Farm Credit congratulates the winners in the various categories from the Dairy banquet on January 31st.

1.) John C. Finley Award - Allison Hooper
2.) VT Dairy Farmer of the Year Award - HJ&A Howrigan & Sons
3.) Lake Champlain Farm Award - Monument Farms
4.) Highest Quality Milk Awards:

- Lowest Pasteurized Count - Andersonville Dairy LLP, Robert Young & Mark Rodgers
- Best Flavor (tie) and Lowest P.I. Count - Dale & Alma Briggs
- Best Flavor (tie) and 3rd Runner up for Highest Milk Quality Award - Thomas Debevoise & Laura Livingston
- 2nd Runner up for Highest Milk Quality Award - David & Tina Houde
- Lowest Standard Plate Count - Andy & Mateo Kehler, Jasper Hill Farm
- Highest Quality Milk Award for VT, and Lowest Somatic Cell Count -Stephen/Patricia/Nick/Andrew/Taylor Meyer, North Hardwick Dairy LLC
- 1st Runner up for Highest Milk Quality Award - Kenneth & Beverly Robinson, Robin's Nest Farm

UPDATE: Click here for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture's press release concerning the quality awards.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is February 7 this year. This is the biggest holiday of the year for about one quarter of the world's population. Click here for more information about Chinese New Year traditions and celebrations.

Each Chinese year is named for one of 12 animals. This will be the Year of the Rat, the first of the 12 animals. According to one legend, the Emperor asked all the animals to a race. Only 12 animals showed up. The rat won the race by riding on the head of the ox as it swam a river and then jumping off in front of the ox just as it approached the finish line. Click here for more information about the Chinese Zodiac.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

USDA ERS State Fact Sheets

The USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) recently updated its State Fact Sheets. These contain interesting agricultural and economic statistics. Here are links to the State Fact Sheets for the states in Yankee's territory: New Hampshire, New York, Vermont.

One interesting statistic: cropland comprises 16% of total land in New York, 10% in Vermont, and only 2% in New Hampshire.