Association Insider Newsletter

Check out our latest newsletter:

January 2014 Issue    

Contents:

· Our Values
· 4H Dairy Conference Sponsorship
· Congratulations to our Scholarship Recipients
· Financial Status as of 9/30/13
· Upside Down Cranberry Pudding
· We Now Offer Business Consulting Services!
· Please Welcome our Newest Employees
· Do You Know What Your Modified Adjusted Gross Income is for Insurance Purposes?
· FarmStart Initiative

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

VT Grazing & Livestock Conference

Jean Conklin and Ryan Scelza attended the 18th Annual VT Grazing & Livestock Conference that was held January 17th - 18th at the Lake Morey Resort in Fariless, VT. This year's theme was "Farm Management Decisions: More Than the Sum(s) of Their Parts." The keynote speaker was Dr. Ben Bartlett of Log Cabin Livestock in Traunik, MI. There were various workshops available for all attendees ranging from Low-Stress Livestock Handling to Soil Health Basic and Grazing Fundamentals. Jean and Ryan reported that the event was well attended and offered a diverse variety of vendors.

FarmStart - Adam and Melissa Beaulieu

Adam and Melissa Beaulieu, of Ryegate, VT are Yankee’s newest FarmStart investment! 

Adam graduated from Vermont Technical College in 2010 and went on to be a herdsman at the Stuart Farm in Stratham, NH.  Melissa has a degree in Accounting and worked for a CPA out of college.  Adam and Melissa have two children, Jabin and Lexi and are excited to start their own family farm.

Adam and Melissa spent a good portion of 2013 planning for this move, finding the right farm to rent, and talking with their FarmStart Advisor, Clara Ayer, a loan officer in the White River Junction office.  Adam and Melissa are a great fit for the FarmStart program because they have a strong work ethic and are passionate about their future in farming.  The FarmStart program is designed to help startup farmers build credit history, sound financial skills and business management with the help of their advisor while they are beginning their business.

Adam and Melissa are currently renting a dairy farm in Ryegate, Vermont.  They are starting out milking 35 cows with plans to grow to 50 cows through internal heard growth.  FarmStart is providing funds to purchase dairy cows and some other start-up expenses.

For more information on FarmStart, please call your local Yankee Farm Credit office.  

St Albans Coop Young Cooperators Annual Meeting

On December 12th, Yankee Consultant Liz Bayne and Senior Vice President Mike Farmer attended the St Albans Young Cooperators Annual Meeting and gave presentations to the group.

Liz's presentation focused on farm transfers. She spoke about how to prepare and plan for a farm transition to the next generation, how to structure a transition plan and provided some basic information on estate and gift tax rules.

Mike spoke about financing strategies for inter-generational farm transfers and advised the group on the importance of good records and having open communication with their loan officer to share and meet their business goals.

 About 50 farmers were in attendance. The group had excellent questions and lots of positive energy for stepping up their involvement in their operations.

Ryan Scelza

Ryan Scelza, a Credit Analyst in our White River Junction office, was recently promoted to Credit Analyst/Participation Specialist. In his new role, Ryan will be working with the Association's purchased participation portfolio while continuing to assist the branch credit staff.

Please join us in congratulating Ryan in his new role.

Richard Doremus

Richard Doremus joined the Yankee team as a Credit Analyst in the White River Junction office on Oct. 28th. Richard is from Newport, NH and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Management/Finance from Plymouth State University in Plymouth, NH.

Anna Laggis - Farm Credit Fellow

During the week of December 9-13 Yankee hosted Farm Credit Fellow Anna Laggis. Anna is a senior at Cornell University. Anna grew up on her family’s Jersey farm in Hardwick, VT. Her interest in dairy has led her to many internships, including cheese making at Jasper Hill and in Italy, cattle nutrition with Cargill, and the Fellows program with Yankee. While visiting with Yankee she visited a variety of agricultural businesses including dairy farms and logging operations. Upon graduation this spring Anna will be making a trip to Alaska for a few months before beginning work for Cargill as an Animal Nutritionist in the fall.

The photo shows Anna in her garden at home earlier in the year.

2013 Northeast Dairy Challenge

The 2013 Northeast Dairy Challenge was held at the William H Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY from October 31st to November 2nd. The challenge, in its 11th year, had 119 students from 14 colleges and universities.



The Dairy Challenge is an educational program that helps prepare students for careers in the dairy industry. The students work in mixed-university teams and visited a dairy farm to assess all aspects of the farm. They then organized their observations and suggestions into 20 minute presentations which were given to a panel of judges.

Farm Credit is a 5 star platinum sponsor of this event which hosts 4 regional and 1 national contest each year. The program is fully funded through the generous support of companies and producer associations serving the dairy industry, as well as a growing number of alumni and individual dairy farm owners.

 Association loan officers; Jean Conklin, Chuck Custeau, and Suzanne Petig, as well as Rob Guay, Association Appraiser all assisted in various aspects of the challenge.

 Mike Farmer, Senior Vice President in the St. Albans office gave a presentation to the students on financial record keeping, benchmarking and goal setting.

Q3 2013 Financial Results

Quarterly net income for Yankee was $2.3 million, an increase of $382 thousand over 2012.  Net interest income increased 13 percent to $3.5 million, up from $3.1 million in 2012.  The most significant factors driving the increase in net income are increases in loan volume, a decrease in the provision for credit losses, and patronage refunds from CoBank.

For the first nine months of 2013, net income increased 5 percent to $6.7 million, up $283 thousand from a year ago.  Net interest income increased 13 percent to $10.3 million. There was a provision for credit losses of $244 thousand through the third quarter of 2013, as compared to $151 thousand for the same period in 2012. Other income decreased by $207 thousand, primarily due to $393 thousand in refunds from the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation in 2012.

Loans held by the Association at September 30, 2013 were $403.9 million, up 5 percent from year end.  The loan portfolio continues to be concentrated in the dairy industry, with 53 percent of the loans invested in dairy businesses.  The second largest concentration is timber, with 13 percent of the loan volume at quarter end.    

Click here for the full quarterly Report to Shareholders.

Alyth Hescock - New Appraiser Joins Yankee Staff

We are pleased to announce that Alyth Hescock joined Yankee as a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser on October 21st. Alyth has a dairy farm background and is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a degree in Community Development and Applied Economics. He has been appraising since 2005, primarily in the Champlain Valley area of Vermont. He has substantial experience in appraising farms and other rural properties as an independent fee appraiser.

Please join us in welcoming Alyth to Yankee.