In order to sell bonds and other financial instruments to investors, the Funding Corporation has to be able to explain the risks inherent in that debt. Tracey was interested in how Yankee Farm Credit analyzes risk: how we capture and report data relative to risk, and how we use that data. Several staff members demonstrated various software systems and analyses to Tracey, including Credit Analyst April Smith and Senior Loan Officer Ken Nelson from our White River Jct. office, and Chief Financial Officer Greg LeDuc and VP/Operations John Peters from our Williston office.
Following discussions in the office, Tracey visited a nearby farm – Conants' Riverside Farm in Richmond, VT. This 430 cow dairy farm in the Winooski River Valley has been in the Conant family since 1854. Dave and Deb Conant, with their son Ransom, currently manage the farm. Dave’s mother, Gloria, who passed away earlier this year, was a past Farm Credit director. From 1976 to 1983 Gloria Conant served on the board of one of the associations that preceded Yankee Farm Credit, and from 1983 to 1987 she was the first woman on the board of directors of the Springfield Farm Credit Banks.
The Conants belong to Agri-Mark, which makes Cabot Cheese, hence the Cabot sign on the barn in the photo below. They also grow sweet corn, pumpkins and squash for roadside sales. Left to right in the photo below are Tracey, Deb, Ransom and Dave.
