Financial Records - Letter to Members

The following letter is being mailed to members with the next monthly billing statement:

December 17, 2009

Dear Member,

I am writing to you about the importance of good financial records.

Farmers and businesses have always needed good financial records to prepare various tax forms. But they also need good financial records for their lender. That’s us. And the world of lending has changed in recent times, resulting in a need for better financial records from borrowers.

Many of you already provide excellent financial records to us. But in some cases we are requiring better financial records from borrowers than we have accepted in the past. This does not mean that we are questioning the borrower’s character. It simply reflects changing standards of business, and represents good business practices.

I encourage you to think about your financial records as something more important than merely a requirement for paying taxes or applying for a loan. I hope you use your financial records to help you make decisions about your business. Where can you grow? Where can you cut costs? Where in your business are you making or losing money? A good set of financial records can help you decide how to make necessary and timely adjustments when financial circumstances change, as they have for many Yankee customers in the past 18 months.

We can help you improve the quality of your financial records for the tax authorities, for your lender, and most importantly for yourself. Please call your local branch office for more information if you are interested in our recordkeeping services.

As your lender, what do we require for financial records? It will vary with the situation, and your loan officer can answer specific questions. But a good place to start is with a good year-end balance sheet. We will shortly be mailing year-end balance sheet templates to most borrowers. I encourage you to complete that template promptly and as accurately as possible, and to call your loan officer if you have any questions.

Thank you for your patronage. Best wishes for the holidays and for the New Year.

Sincerely,

George S. Putnam
President and CEO

P.S. Please visit our blog (yankeeaca.blogspot.com) for more discussion about financial records.

As promised, here are additional blog posts on this subject:
Financial Records - Reconciling
Financial Records - Cash vs. Accrual
Financial Records - How good?

Batter on Deck, Are You Warming Up?

Kelly Langmaid, Loan Officer from the Newport office, attended a Farm Transfer Planning meeting on December 3, 2009. Also in attendance was Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Yankee Director. The meeting — titled “Batter on Deck, Are You Warming Up?” — was held in the Poulin Grain Conference Room. A discussion was led by Rick Hermonot, dairy consultant for First Pioneer Farm Credit. Rick walked the group through a discussion about transferring the farm from one generation to the next. He first discussed establishing the reason for wanting to transfer and emphasized that the wrong reasons can have significant consequences. He talked about traits of transfers he has seen that have been successful and those that have been failures. He discussed defining where you are now and what steps to take to get to where you want to be, using a list of helpful transfer tools. The meeting and lunch were sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture.

Building Relationships That Last Generations

The tag line on our new web site is "Building Relationships That Last Generations." Passing the farm from one generation to the next is often a challenge. Two Yankee directors have recently addressed this issue in the press.

'It's in your blood' (4 MB PDF file) — Board Chairperson Paul Gingue and his sons are among the farm families discussed in this article in the Danville North Star Monthly.

Passing on the pasture — Director and Audit Committee Chairperson Rocki-Lee DeWitt says, "Yes, there are still lenders out there with capital to lend for this kind of business." That would be Yankee Farm Credit! This article in Seven Days discusses the FARMS 2+2 Program at VTC and UVM. Yes, the Andrew Wood featured in the article is the same one we wrote about earlier on this blog (see this post).

BFP Savorvore Section

Every Friday the Burlington Free Press prints a special section about food called "Savorvore." The December 11th edition featured a story about growing sunflowers in Vermont.

There are also stories about ruffed grouse, wine, ginger liqueurs, burgers (lots of stories!), brussels sprouts (sadly only 1 story), and many other foods. If you like cooking or eating, you might enjoy some of these stories. And some of these stories may be related to some of our non-commodity customers or potential customers. After all, what people eat determines what farmers can sell.

NEK Dairy Farmers Meeting

The NEK Dairy Farmers Group met on November 24th at Walt Gladstone's farm in Bradford, VT. Loan officer Kelly Langmaid from our Newport office submitted this report:

First meeting of the season, beautiful day, tour of the farm by Walt and son Will. Discussed the history of the farm and how they got where they are today. Discussed current issues in the dairy industry including the low milk price, changes they have implemented over the past year due to the low milk price, and foreign labor.

There where 18 people in attendance at the meeting, including the Gladstones. This meeting also invited any farmers from the Orange County area that have expressed interest in starting a similar group in their area.

Meeting and lunch were sponsored by Intervet Schering Plough. Plastic boots were provided by Genex.

Loan officer Morgan Greenwood Rilling from our White River Jct. office also attended the meeting.

Agrimark Regional Meeting

Ken Buzzell, Senior Vice President of the Newport office, attended the Agrimark Region 12 regional meeting held at the Applecheek Farm in Hyde Park Vermont. Items of discussion were: why the price of milk fell so low in 2009, Agrimark's Operations and Financial Reports and a presentation on what Cabot was doing to promote its products. Quality awards were presented. Dr. Julie Smith from UVM talked about bio-security.

VT Small Business Development Center

Ken Buzzell, Senior Vice President of the Newport office, recently participated in a lender forum at the Center for an Agricultural Economy in Hardwick. The class in business planning was offered by the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) and was held on October 14th. About ten people attended, in addition to staff from VtSBDC and lenders. Sarah Isham from VACC, Sam Buckley from the Vermont Community Loan Fund and Megan Dubois from FSA also participated, in addition to Ken. Each spoke about programs offered by their respective companies or agencies with emphasis on what they were, what type of loans they handled and eligibility. A question and answer session followed.

NE Regional Dairy Challenge

Yankee was well represented recently at the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge. Loan Officer and Farm Tax Specialist Jean Conklin from our White River Junction branch reports the following:

I served as a judge at the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge held November 5-7 in Glens Falls, NY. Hosted by SUNY Cobleskill, the Dairy Challenge provided the opportunity for about 120 students from 13 colleges, including 2 in Canada, to visit and evaluate one of 3 host farms in Saratoga County. In teams of 5 they made a presentation to a panel of 5 judges who represented all aspects of the dairy industry. I served as lead judge on a judges team which included Kurt Ruppell from Cargill, Dr. Tim Synder from Renaissance Nutrition, Bob Seglowski, DVM, a vet from southwest Vermont and Glenn Taylor a dairy producer from Cassville, NY. Dr. Charlie Sniffen, a Yankee director, also served as a volunteer judge on another team. The Dairy Challenge is sponsored by the dairy industry. The Farm Credit System, including Yankee Farm Credit, is a big supporter. NH and Vermont were well represented with students from UVM, UNH and VTC attending.

The Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge allows students to prepare for the National Dairy Challenge which will be held in Visalia, California in April 2010. This link is to a local newspaper article which provided coverage of the event. For more information please visit dairychallenge.org.

Jean Conklin also serves on the NAIDC Board of Directors.

NEK Dairy Farmer Meeting

The next meeting of the NEK Dairy Farmers will be on November 24th from 11am to 2pm at Gladstone's Newmont Farm in Bradford, VT. For more information contact Kelly Langmaid, Yankee Farm Credit, phone 802-334-8050.

On Thursday, December 3rd the Vermont Agency of Agriculture is putting on a meeting titled Batter on Deck, Are You Warming Up? It is a farm business transfer planning meeting. The discussion will be led by Rick Hermonot of First Pioneer Farm Credit. The program will begin with pizza at 12:30, followed by discussion and presentation from 1pm to 3pm. The meeting will be held in the Poulin Grain conference room in Newport. Attendance is free - don't miss this opportunity! Please RSVP by December 1st. For more information or to sign up contact Louise Waterman, VT Agency of Agriculture, phone 802-828-6900.

Bill Gates on Agriculture

Bill Gates recently gave his first major address on agriculture. He spoke at the World Food Prize Symposium in Iowa last month. The World Food Prize was the vision of Dr. Norman Borlaug.

Bill Gates praised the legacy of Dr. Borlaug and spoke about the need for the next Green Revolution, especially in Africa. He said that agriculture needs to embrace both sustainability and technology, including biotechnology. And he emphasized that "the next Green Revolution must be guided by small-holder farmers." He used the word "small" 21 times in his speech. And he announced grants totaling $120 million to nine institutions around the world from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (press release).

Speaking of Dr. Borlaug, Bill Gates said that "he proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor."

Click here for more information about the symposium. Here is a link to Bill Gates' speech.