2013 Dairy Challenge training at Miner Institute

This years’ students participating in the two day Dairy Challenge workshop at Miner Institute include Cassie Bromley of Wallingford, VT; Andrew Whitney of Hardwick; Kaitlin Benoit of Montgomery; Melissa Woolpert from California, and Morgen Doane from New Haven. The purpose of the workshop is to expose students to farm financial management and uses a case study where the students act as a business consultant working for a Vermont family operating a dairy as an LLC. There are two generations on the dairy and the students evaluate the business and make suggestions to improve profitability. We explain the difference between cash and accrual accounting and ratio analysis to compare the case study to our Northeast Dairy Farm Summary.

This is the 8th year that SVP/Regional Manager Mike Farmer has facilitated the workshop at Miner Institute. This fall the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge will be held in Chazy and Yankee Farm Credit will be a sponsor.

Abigail Roleau

Abigail Roleau will fill the position of credit analyst in our Middlebury office effective May 15, 2013 and will work part time prior to this date. She graduates from UVM May 13, 2013, with a BS in Community Development and Applied Economics and a minor in Animal Science. She was a Farm Credit Fellow in 2012, see the Yankee ACA Blog: Farm Credit Fellows

Please welcome Abby to Yankee.

2012 Patronage Refunds

Yankee Farm Credit today distributed $4.9 million in patronage refunds to its members who borrowed from the cooperative. This distribution represents approximately 57% of Yankee’s 2012 net income of $8.7 million. The patronage refund of $4.9 million and the refund rate of 1.25% on average member loan volume are both the highest they have ever been. The association had a great year in 2012 thanks to the good financial performance of members and hard work of staff. We are pleased to share this success with members via this patronage refund. Yankee Farm Credit has paid patronage refunds to its members every year since 1995. Total payments over those 18 years have exceeded $49 million.

Click here for a news release.

2013 Annual Meetings - Pre-register now!

Our annual meetings will be held in April. Please join us to vote for your directors. Click the location below to send a pre-registration e-mail, please indicate how many will attend.

Monday, April 8th - American Legion in St. Albans

Tuesday, April 9th - Eastside Restaurant, Newport

Monday, April 15th - Middlebury Inn, Middlebury

Tuesday, April 16th - Three Stallion Inn, Randolph (Please note this is a new location!) Directions from I89: take exit 4 for VT 66, turn left on VT 66 West, stay on 66W for 2 miles then turn left on to Stock Farm Rd. The Inn is located at 665 Stock Farm Road.

All meetings begin at 7pm with registration at 6:30pm. Please contact your local office to pre-register or call the Williston office at 800-639-3053.

Wendy Smith

I am pleased to anounce that our newest employee in the White River Junction office is Wendy Smith. Wendy started working here as an Office Assistant on February 19th. For the past 6 ½ years, Wendy worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Vermont Law School in South Royalton, VT. Prior to that, she worked for 7 years at Mascoma Savings Bank in the Lending Department assisting in the closing of Home Equity Lines and Loans.

Please join me in welcoming Wendy to Farm Credit.

New York State Annual Maple Weekend

The New York State Maple Producers Association’s annual Maple Weekend will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17, as well as next weekend, March 23 and 24 throughout New York State.

This is a great chance to enjoy samples of local products, learn about the maple industry and celebrate the coming of warmer weather!  There is a searchable database of participating producers here.  Be sure to check the listings carefully before heading out - not all participating producers will be open all four days of the Maple Weekend.

Vermont Grain Growers Conference

The 9th annual Vermont Grain Growers Conference was held yesterday at The Essex in Essex Junction. Over 150 people attended, including farmers from New York and Canada as well as Vermont. Click here for the program brochure. Dr. Heather Darby of UVM Extension led the conference.

The main speakers were:

• Dr. Stephen Jones from Washington State University who spoke about "The Small Grains Movement."
• Dr. Julie Miller Jones, Professor Emerita from St. Catherine University, who spoke about "Wheat Belly: Fact and Fad." She provided a rebuttal to the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis.

Breakout sessions included talks by Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm, an organic dairy and grain farm in Westfield, VT; Klaas and Peter Martens of Lakeview Organic Grain, a 1400 acre organic grain farm in Penn Yan, NY; Dr. Heather Darby; and more.

See the UVM Extension webpage for the Northwest Crops and Soils Program for information about Dr. Darby's research. That webpage includes extensive information about grains, oilseeds, hops, forages, soils and more.

The theme of yesterday's conference was "Returning to Our Roots." Vermont was once a major grain producing region, especially wheat. If you are interested in Vermont's agricultural history, see this timeline. That link includes a photo of the statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, atop the Statehouse in Montpelier. She is holding a sheaf of wheat. Judging by this conference, many people are once again excited about growing grain in the northeast.

What is driving this renewed interest in growing grains locally? Most of the discussion is about organic grains. Some of those grains are for feeding dairy cows that are producing organic milk. But most of the increased demand is for locally sourced grains for human consumption. King Arthur Flour of Norwich, VT was a major sponsor of the conference. Other sponsors included Champlain Valley Milling of Westport, NY and GrowNYC, a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York City that operates the famous Union Square Greenmarket.

Loan Officer Chuck Custeau of our St. Albans office and I represented Yankee Farm Credit at the conference.

2012 Financial Results

Full-year net income for Yankee was $8.7 million, an increase of $1.6 million over 2011. The most significant factor driving the increase was net interest income which increased 5.4 percent to $12.4 million, up from $11.8 million in 2011. Also contributing to the increase in net income were a one-time refund from the Farm Credit System Insurance Corp (FCSIC) of $393 thousand, a $353 thousand lower provision for credit losses, an increase of $199 thousand in patronage refunds from CoBank, and an increase in other income of $162 thousand. These increases to net income were offset by an increase of $111 thousand in other expenses.

Year-end loan volume at December 31, 2012 was $385.1 million, up 13.3 percent from the prior year. The loan portfolio continues to be concentrated in the dairy industry, with 56 percent of the loans invested in dairy businesses. The second largest concentration is timber, with 12 percent of the loan volume at year-end.

Credit quality across Yankee’s loan portfolio improved during 2012 and remained well within the risk-bearing capacity of the Association. At year-end 1.5 percent of the Association loans were classified as nonperforming, compared to 1.6 percent at the end of 2011. There was one charge-off of $110 thousand and a recovery of $6 thousand recorded during 2012. The Association’s capital position remains strong.

The Board of Directors approved a patronage refund to members in the amount of $4.9 million for 2012, to be paid 100% in cash, which is approximately 34% more than the $3.6 million that was paid for 2011. 2012 patronage payments will be made on or about March 25, 2013. Patronage refunds will be distributed either in the form of a check or direct deposit to members’ bank accounts.

Managing for Profit Workshop

Gary Matteson presented a "Managing for Profit Workshop" for farmers on February 27, 2013. Gary, pictured above, is VP Young, Beginning, Small Farmer Programs and Outreach for the Farm Credit Council in Washington, DC. He is a New Hampshire native and one-time farmer himself (greenhouse-raised cut flowers). The program was targeted at farmers supplying food hubs.

Gary talked about business planning, risk management, and benchmarking. He introduced tools such as the One-Page Business Plan and the One-Page Financial Plan. These tools and other materials about business planning can be found on the website for the Field Guide to the New American Foodshed.

Also part of the workshop was a presentation by Jeff Farbman of the Wallace Center at Winrock International about food safety regulations and certification. More information can be found on the website for the National Good Food Network.

About 25 people attended, including farmers and people involved in Vermont's Farm Viability programs. The program was hosted by the Intervale Food Hub and held in the Great Room at Main Street Landing in Burlington. The program was funded by USDA's Risk Management Agency and developed by the Farm Credit Council, the Wallace Center at Winrock International, and Morse Marketing Connections, LLC. Three employees from Yankee Farm Credit attended and participated in the discussions: Loan Officer Tom St. Pierre, SVP/Chief Credit Officer John Peters, and President and CEO George Putnam.

Vermont Flower Show

The 2013 Vermont Flower Show was held March 1-3 at the Champlain Valley Expo. This was the 16th year that Green Works, the Vermont Nursery & Landscape Association has sponsored this event. This year’s theme was “The Road Not Taken”, an adaptation of the Robert Frost poem. Workshops and presentations were ongoing for the three days plus the 75+ exhibitors were also showcasing their goods and services. A sample of topics covered included Small Space Gardening, Pollinator Friendly Landscaping, Minimizing Insect Damage in Fruit and Vegetable Gardens, and Tree Pruning Basics. Yankee Farm Credit Loan Officer Suzanne Petig of the St. Albans office attended and took the above picture of one of the displays.

Vermont Maple Conferences 2013

The Vermont Maple Sugarmakers Association, Addison County Maple Sugarmakers Association, and UVM Extension held the annual maple conferences earlier this year. Yankee Farm Credit staff attended the conferences with a display. SVP/Regional Manager Ken Button attended in Middlebury on January 12th, Senior Loan Officer Chris Bessette in Bellows Falls on January 19th, and Loan Officer Tom St. Pierre in Hyde Park on January 26th.

Gary Gaudette (Leader Evaporator) and Bruce Bascom (Bascom Maple Farms) both spoke about the industry. The main message described a strong industry, US and VT supply is up substantially, demand is strong, and prices steady. Attendance was strong as usual and always looking for the next season to be the best. For more information see the December 2012 issue of Maple Mainline published by UVM Extension.

NOFA-VT Winter Conference

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) held its 31st annual Winter Conference on February 16-17, 2013 at UVM. Yankee Farm Credit was a sponsor and an exhibitor. Pictured above at our exhibit in the Davis Center are Loan Officer April Smith from the White River Jct. office and SVP/Chief Credit Officer John Peters from the Williston office. Also participating were Ryan Scelza, Loren Petzoldt, Ken Button and George Putnam. Yankee was a sponsor at the “Sustainer” level this year ($1,500).

The Saturday lunch included comments from U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Representative Peter Welch, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, and Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Ross. The conference was a huge success, with 1,200 attendees and many workshops—several of which Yankee Farm Credit employees attended. It is the largest agricultural gathering of its type in Vermont. For more information see NOFA-VT's excellent website.