We have joined FarmStart!

Finally, after years of bureaucratic delays, we have joined FarmStart! We started this process in 2008. The Farm Credit Adminstration approved the request for Yankee Farm Credit to join FarmStart on January 28, 2011, with conditions. We have complied with those conditions and made our first payment to FarmStart: today we wired $200,000. Our board has approved an investment of up to $500,000. Additional funds will be called for as needed from the three partners. FarmStart, LLP is owned by Farm Credit East (45%), CoBank (45%) and Yankee Farm Credit (10%).

Dairy Farmer Appreciation Day at Jay Peak

A good time was had by all at the Jay Peak Resort in Jay, Vermont on Friday, January 28, 2011. Once again Jay Peak Resort hosted Farmer Appreciation Day also known as Farmer Ski Day. The weather was perfect – the snow conditions ideal and before the day was over 300 plus farmers and families enjoyed a day of skiing and snowboarding. This was the 23rd year in a row that Jay has hosted this popular event. Rob Guay, Appraiser Trainee from the Chazy office; and Ken Buzzell, Senior Vice President of the Newport office, attended the event for Yankee and donated a few door prizes.
At left are: Dan Laggis, John Laggis and Ted Foster from Laggis Brothers Farm in Hardwick, Vermont and Ken Buzzell preparing to ride the lift to the top.

Each Vermont dairy farm has the opportunity to take advantage of discounted rental equipment, free lessons and up to three complimentary lift passes. An après-ski party is held following the day on the slopes and fun events are held throughout the day. If you missed it this year, mark you calendars for next January! It is a great chance to enjoy what the Vermont winter has to offer. For more information please check out the Jay Peak website.

2011 Vermont Farm Show

The 2011 Vermont Farm Show was held January 25 - 27, 2011 at the Barre Civic Center in Barre, VT. Many thanks to the employees who represented Yankee over the three day event: Loren Petzoldt, Kendra Burroughs, Chris Bessette, Ken Nelson, Jean Conklin, Kyle Lussier, Tom St. Pierre, Chuck Custeau, Clara Hall, Ken Button, Jeff Temple, Ken Buzzell and Kelly Richardson. Yankee was one of 140 exhibitors present this year.

Ken Buzzell and Jeff Temple are pictured in Yankee’s booth with their “best of show” ribbon!

There were many annual banquets and meetings around the area during the Farm Show. Some of the organizations that held meetings were: the Vermont Sheep and Goat Association, the Vermont Christmas Tree Association, Vermont Beekeepers Association, Vermont Organic Farmers, Vermont Maple Sugarmaker’s Association, Vermont FFA, LFO Farmers and the Vermont Dairy Industry Association. Yankee congratulates the winners in the various categories from the Dairy banquet on January 27, 2010.

The 2010 Vermont Dairy Farmer of the year is the Swanton Family, Longway Farms, please click here for more details.

The John C. Finley Award went to Enid Wonnacott, NOFA. This award is presented annually for distinguished service to Vermont agriculture. John C. Finley was the Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture and a great advocate for agriculture in Vermont.

Milk Quality Awards:
- Overall Dairy Winner: Meyer Farm, Hardwick
- Best Somatic Cell Count: Meyer Farm
- Best Raw Count: Richardson Farm, Hartland
- Best Pasteurized Count: Richardson Farm
- Best PI Count: Briggs Farm, Addison
- Best Flavor: Coarse Farm

Each year the Farm Show holds the “Political Pull”, this year the House won the competition once again. Check out this link for more on that story and a short clip from WCAX.

2011 Vermont Maple Conferences

The University of Vermont Extension, Addison County Maple Sugarmakers’ Association and Vermont Maple Sugarmakers’ Association held the annual Vermont Maple Conferences January 15 in Middlebury, January 22 in Hyde Park, and January 29 in Bellows Falls. Ken Button attended Middlebury, Tom St Pierre (pictured) and Rob Guay Hyde Park, and Ken Nelson and Kendra Burroughs Bellows Falls. Yankee employees had a display at each location. Attendance is very strong at these conferences with over 700 registrations.

Various topics on the agendas included marketing, forest management, maple pests, vacuum and tubing systems and more. A very informative session titled “state of the industry” was led by Gary Gaudet, President of Leader Evaporator.

Rob Guay also attended the Adirondack Maple School at Miner Institute on January 28. This educational conference was put on by the Cornell Cooperative Extension. Research on the effects of tap contamination were displayed as well as tips on value added products. This was well attended with approximately 30 producers from Clinton County. The Extension is doing one in each county in New York.

2010 Patronage Refund

The Board of Directors has approved a patronage refund for 2010 of $3,659,000, payable 100% in cash. The 2010 patronage refund is 1.00% of average member loan volume and 52% of net income.

In comparison, the 2009 patronage refund was $2,573,000. There are two reasons the size of the patronage refund increased by more than $1 million from 2009 to 2010. First, we increased the patronage refund rate from 0.80% in 2009 to 1.00% in 2010. Second, in 2009 and previous years we paid patronage refunds only on member loan volume held by the Association. Beginning in 2010 we are generally paying patronage refunds on all member loan volume originated by the Association. We made this change as part of our response to new accounting rules (FAS 166) that became effective in 2010.

Payment of the patronage refund is contingent upon satisfactory completion of the 2010 audit and the Association's receipt of its 2010 patronage refund from CoBank. Both conditions are expected to be satisfied in March, and payment of the 2010 patronage refund is tentatively scheduled for March 25, 2011.

Payment will be made via ACH for customers who were signed up for electronic funds transfer as of December 31, 2010. The plan for ACH customers is to mail the statement on Wednesday, March 23 and initiate the ACH transaction on Thursday, March 24. Most ACH customers should receive the funds in their bank account on Friday, March 25.