Nathan Goddard

Yankee is pleased to announce that Nathan (Nate) Goddard has joined our Appraisal Department, working from our St. Albans office. He will be working toward his Appraiser Trainee license with the longer term goal of becoming a Certified General Appraiser.

Nate graduated from UVM with a degree in Recreation Management and worked as a Ranger for Vermont State Parks. He also has experience in the construction industry.

Nate currently lives in Winooski. He grew up on the family farm in Orwell where he still frequently helps out on the weekends. In his spare time he enjoys being outdoors.

Join us in welcoming Nate to the Yankee family!

UVM Plant and Soils Class Presentation

On February 12th Morgan Rilling, Credit Operations Coordinator, gave a presentation to a plants and soils class at UVM on what a lender looks for in a business plan. The class is currently working in groups to put together business plans and wanted the opportunity to ask a lender "what are you looking for?" or "How can you tell if a plan is a sound bet?"

Morgan focused on the different areas that lenders would want to see within a business plan and the detail and explanations that are necessary to provide a good understanding of what it is they want to do. She explained that by the time the lender is done reading a business plan they should have a solid understanding of their product or service and feel as though their main goal is to run a profitable business by setting realistic goals and having a sound strategy and marketing plan.

Association Insider Newsletter

Check out our January issue of the Association Insider newsletter.

Topics include:

· Business Plans
· A look at Robotic Milking Systems
· Time to Spruce up your Records?
· Tuition Reimbursement for Centerpoint Training Offered
· Financial Status as of 9/30/2012
· The Clock is Ticking on Gifting
· FarmStart Initiative

As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions, please drop us an e-mail or call Ruchel at 800-639-3053.

Crop Congress at Miner Institute

Shantel Thomas and Mike Farmer represented Crop Growers and Yankee Farm Credit at the annual Crop Congress at Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, today. Over 80 producers were in attendance to hear speakers discuss corn hybrids, corn shredlage, herbicide programs, and crop insurance as a risk management tool. Detailed presentations on research within New York State with practical solutions for crop producers were a highlight of the event. The costs and benefits of crop insurance were highlighted. The $4 indemnity payout for every $1 of producer premiums paid in 2011 shows that crop insurance works for New York farmers. Shantel was the only crop insurance agent in attendance.

Promotion - Sue Kelley

I am pleased to announce that Sue Kelley will assume the duties of Internal Credit Reviewer in April.

The internal credit review function is critical to the Association. It provides quality control for both credit analysis and credit administration. It helps the branch offices improve consistency and share best practices. And it is an important part of the on-the-job training for new credit staff. Sue brings considerable experience to this important job.

Sue has worked for Farm Credit since 1982 when she started in the Middlebury and Rutland offices as an Office Assistant-Agrifax. She became a Farm Credit Tax Specialist in 1985. In 1986 she was promoted to Financial Services Representative with responsibilities on the credit side of the business as well as in income tax preparation and recordkeeping. Titles changed in the mid 1990s from Financial Services Representative to Loan Officer, and in 2004 Sue was promoted to Senior Loan Officer. Throughout this time she continued to be an important part of the Association's income tax preparation service, earning the status of IRS Enrolled Agent in 2011. Sue has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Babson College.

Sue's experience as Senior Loan Officer will be invaluable in her new role as Internal Credit Reviewer. Being a credit reviewer, however, is inconsistent with being a loan officer. Sue's loan portfolio will be transitioned to other loan officers by April 15th. (See the blog posts for new loan officers Kristi Wood and Kyle Lussier in the Middlebury office.) Sue will continue her duties as a Senior Tax Specialist.

A brief history of the Association's internal credit review function: From 1995 through 2005 John Peters was in charge of the internal credit review, collateral review and internal audit. The Association hired outside parties for these functions from 2006 through 2011. In 2012 John resumed the internal credit and collateral reviews. It was John's promotion last fall to SVP/Chief Credit Officer that created the opening for Internal Credit Reviewer that Sue is now filling. The Association will continue to hire outside parties for the collateral review and internal audit.

Please join me in congratulating Sue on her new responsibilities!

2013 Farm Show

Yankee Farm Credit Staff participated in the 81st Vermont Farm Show with a booth. Several employees contributed to the shifts over the three days January 29, 30, and 31st. Yankee or its predecessor has attended this event with a display for over 35 years. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture has an excellent website describing this annual event.

UVM Biofuels presentation

On January 26th, Loan Officer Chuck Custeau from our St. Albans office presented a project to UVM students enrolled in a Biomass to Biofuels course.  The presentation titled COST ANALYSIS OF OILSEED CROP PRODUCTION FOR BIODIESEL was based on a project that he and partner Meghan Seifert completed last year. They completed a feasibility study for a Vermont dairy producer to grow and produce their own biofuels for use on the farm. Professor Anju Dahiya asked the two of them to return this year to present their project for this year’s class.

Yankee sponsored Chuck taking this class last year for him to learn more about biofuels and to demonstrate Yankee’s commitment to financing alternative crops. Chuck did very well in the class. Thanks for representing us Chuck!

UPDATE: Click here for a copy of the report.

Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association

Clara Hall, Loan Officer in White River Jct., attended the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association Annual Meeting held at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier on January 28, 2013. In 2012 there were just over 270 members throughout the state and there seemed to be good attendance from the group at this annual meeting.

There was a full day of interesting presentations from:

• Andy Jones, Intervale Community Farm in Burlington
• Vern Grubinger, UVM Extension
• Christa Alexander, Jericho Settlers Farm in Jericho
• Yolanda Chen, UVM Plant and Soil Science
• Chris Callahan, UVM Extension Agricultural Engineer
• Richard Cowles, CT Agricultural Experiment Station
• Chuck Ross, VT Secretary of Agriculture
• Jon Satz, Brandon
• Ann Hazelrigg, UVM Plant Diagnostic Lab
• Jon Turmel, Entomologist
• Howard Prussack, High Meadows Farm in Westminster West

Topics ranged from Tunnels, low and high, to the Spotted Wing Drosophila to storing crops to marketing strawberries to various diseases to on-farm-trials.

2013 Director Nominees

The Nominating Committee has nominated the following individuals for director:

Region 1:
Alan Bourbeau

Region 2:
Bryan Davis
Jesse Laflamme

Region 3:
Jane Clifford 
Paul Saenger 

One director from each region will be elected at Annual Meetings which will be held April 8-16, 2013.

2012 Patronage Refund

The Board of Directors has approved a patronage refund for 2012 of $4,918,000, payable 100% in cash. The 2012 patronage refund is 1.25% of average member loan volume and 57% of net income.

The patronage refund of $4.9 million and the patronage refund rate of 1.25% are both the highest they have ever been. The Association had a good year in 2012 thanks to the good financial performance of members and the hard work of staff. We are pleased to share this success with members via this patronage refund. For reference, last year's patronage refund was $3,664,000 which was 1.00% of average member loan volume and 52% of net income.

Payment of the patronage refund is contingent upon satisfactory completion of the 2012 audit and the Association's receipt of its 2012 patronage refund from CoBank. Both conditions are expected to be satisfied in March. For customers receiving payment by check, we are tentatively planning on mailing checks on March 25, 2013.

Payment will be made via ACH for customers who were signed up for electronic funds transfer as of December 31, 2012. The plan for ACH customers is to mail a statement on Monday, March 25 and initiate the ACH transaction on Tuesday, March 26. Most ACH customers should receive the funds in their bank account on Wednesday, March 27.