AgEnhancement Grants

Farm Credit Awards $32,500 to 19 Northeast Farm Programs

Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement awarded $32,500 in grants to 19 programs in April. (25 organizations requested $101,255 in grant funds)

April AgEnhancement grants bring the total to over one million dollars! Press release forthcoming. Yankee Farm Credit funds the regional program with First Pioneer, Farm Credit of Western New York & Maine Associations and CoBank. Grants usually range from $1,000 to $5,000.

Farm Credit AgEnhancement April 2009 projects funded:
New Jersey Ag in the Classroom, $1,000
Rhode Island Farm Bureau, $1,000
Maine FFA, $1,000
NY Jersey Cattle Club, $2,500
Jersey Cattle Youth Event, $1,500
Vermont Folklife Center, $1,000
NOFA-Massachussets Organic Program, $1,000
NY Wine & Grape Tractor Demo, $5,000
Farm Fresh Rhode Island, $1,000
NY Pork Producers Scholarships, $1,000
New England Apple Association, $1,000
Vermont Feed Dealers Association, $1,000
Genesee Valley Farm Discovery Center, $1,000
University of Maryland Dairy Workshop, $1,000
NY Berry Growers Association, $1,500
Northern Forest Center, $1,000
New Hampshire 4-H Foundation, $1,000
Big E FFA, $5,000
New England Green Pastures, $4,000

Since it's 1996 inception, the program has awarded over $1,016,000 through 371 grants. Funding review deadlines remain August 1, December 1 and April 1. AgEnhancement guidelines and application are posted online at http://www.yankeeaca.com/about/L3/agenhance.htm.

After reviewing the guidelines, organizations are encouraged to e-mail appropriate funding requests, to include:

Cover letter
One-page application
May include supporting information (up to three pages)

Questions may be directed to Bob Smith.

UPDATE 5/11/09: Delivering the grant to Art Whitman of the Vermont Feed Dealers & Manufacturers Association. Looking on is Louise Calderwood, who wrote the grant application. The building in the background is UVM's Davis Center. Art and Louise were at UVM for one meeting and George was at UVM for another meeting, so it made a convenient place to meet.



UPDATE 5/18/09: Delivering the grant to Brent Björkman, Executive Director of the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, Vermont. Brent was kind enough to give a tour of the Center to Ken Button and George. The grant will help support the publication of a book titled Forty-Six Years of Pretty Straight Going: The Life of a Family Dairy Farm. This book by George Bellerose is about the Wyman farm of Weybridge.

Board Officers and Committees

At the April 30, 2009 Board meeting, the Board of Directors elected the following officers:

Chairperson - Paul E. Gingue
Vice Chairperson - Rocklyn A. Giroux

Also approved were committee assignments:

Executive Committee
Alan J. Bourbeau
Rupert C. Chamberlin
Paul E. Doton
Paul E. Gingue
Rocklyn A. Giroux

Audit Committee
Rocki-Lee DeWitt
Walter M. Gladstone
Paul F. Saenger
Charles J. Sniffen
Stephen H. Taylor

Compensation Committee
Rupert C. Chamberlin
Rocki-Lee DeWitt
Paul E. Doton
Celeste Kane-Stebbins
Paul F. Saenger

Membership/Governance Committee
Alan J. Bourbeau
Rocklyn A. Giroux
Walter M. Gladstone
Celeste Kane-Stebbins
Charles J. Sniffen

Director Election Results

The last of four annual meetings was held last night in Newport. Members completed voting for directors, ballots were counted, and the results were announced before the meeting was adjourned. Elected to three year terms on the board of directors were:

Region 1 - Rocklyn Giroux
Region 2 - Paul Gingue
Region 3 - Stephen Taylor

Congratulations to Rocky, Paul and Steve. And thanks to Clark Hinsdale, Louise Calderwood and Paul Harlow for participating in the elections as candidates.

There were 180 ballots cast this year, which was 17% of eligible voters. This was up from 151 and 15% last year. Thank you to everyone for participating, and a special thanks to employees for organizing and running successful meetings.

NEK Dairy Farmers

The NEK Dairy Farmers hosted its April meeting at Cowtown in Derby, VT. The special guest was Dr. Max Thornsberry of Richland, Missouri. He is the owner and manager of TNT Cattle Co., a feeder calf operation; and Avanco Feeds, a vet and nutrition firm for beef, dairy, swine and companion animals. Dr. Thornsberry travels the country consulting with dairy producers on calf and heifer development and nutrition.

Dr. Thornsberry discussed calf raising techniques and protocols, stressing the importance of vaccinations, colostrum management, and daily gains. The meeting and the lunch were sponsored by Blue Sea/Richer Dairy Nutrition. The group sends a special thank you to the Nelson family for donating the facilities, and to Blue Seal for sponsoring the meeting.

GSE Financial Results for 2008

When I originally wrote this column for Financial Partner magazine, 2008 financial results were not yet available for the three housing GSEs. Fannie and Freddie have since reported their 2008 results; the Federal Home Loan Banks still have not.

Fannie Mae's assets increased in 2008 to $912 billion. Fannie reported a loss of $59 billion in 2008 and negative equity (!) of $15 billion.

Freddie Mac's assets increased in 2008 to $882 billion. Freddie reported a loss of $50 billion in 2008 and negative equity of $31 billion.

In contrast, the Farm Credit System's assets increased in 2008 to $214 billion. The FCS reported 2008 income of $2.9 billion and positive equity of $27 billion (12.7% of assets).

As a point of reference, General Motors reported a 2008 loss of $31 billion and negative equity of $86 billion.

What is a GSE?

The following column appears in the Spring 2009 issue of Financial Partner magazine:

Much has been written in the press the last few months about government-sponsored enterprises or GSEs. What are they? And how do they relate to Farm Credit?

A GSE is a financial institution created by Congress to serve a specific sector of the economy that Congress believes is underserved. The Farm Credit System was the first GSE, created in 1916, to aid farmers and ranchers.

Congress created three subsequent GSEs to aid home buyers: the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLB) in 1932; the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) in 1938; and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) in 1970. The three housing GSEs have grown much larger than Farm Credit. In fact, this graph shows their total assets as of the end of 2007:

GSEs have been in the news because the federal government placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship on September 7, 2008. The government took this action because of the weakening financial condition of Fannie and Freddie, which resulted from the bursting of the housing bubble and the subsequent mortgage financial crisis. Fannie and Freddie are now owned and operated by the government.

The FHLB, a system of 12 institutions, is also showing signs of stress, and at least three of its institutions have indicated possible problems with meeting capital standards.

What about Farm Credit?

The Farm Credit System required government assistance in the 1980s, but reported profits every year since 1988. The System recently reported 2008 earnings of $2.9 billion. Capital, as a percentage of total assets, declined in 2008 from 14.2 percent to 12.7 percent due to loan growth. But compare the System’s capital position to the 4.2 percent capital position for the FHLB, the strongest of the housing GSEs, at the end of 2007.

Although Congress created these four GSEs, it did not give each the same oversight and regulation.

• Congressional oversight of the Farm Credit System is by the House and Senate agriculture committees and regulatory oversight is delegated to the Farm Credit Administration (FCA). FCA is an independent federal agency, which was given strong regulatory authorities — such as the authority to place a regulated entity into conservatorship or receivership — as a result of the System’s federal bailout in the 1980s.
  
  
• Congressional oversight of the housing GSEs is by the House and Senate banking committees. Before July 2008, two separate entities had regulatory oversight: one for the FHLB and one for Fannie and Freddie. And neither had strong regulatory authorities. In July 2008, due to the worsening financial condition of the housing GSEs, Congress combined regulatory oversight of the three housing GSEs into the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and gave the new agency strong regulatory authorities. Less than six weeks later, the FHFA placed Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship.

It is almost certain that Congress will reform the regulation of financial institutions. It is possible that any reform could affect the regulation of GSEs.

We in the Farm Credit System believe that the current regulation of the System is effective and does not need to be changed. If proposals come about in Congress to change our regulation, we may ask for your support to keep congressional oversight with the agriculture committees and regulatory oversight with the Farm Credit Administration.

UPDATE: Please see this post for 2008 financial results for these GSEs.

Vermont Woodlands Association

Ken Button, Senior Vice President from the Middlebury office attended the annual meeting of Vermont Woodlands Association at Vermont Technical College on April 3rd. Jason Gibbs, Commissioner of Forest Parks and Recreation and Jonathan Wood, Secretary Agency Natural Resources addressed the group, among others. The meeting was well attended.

Training for Ag Professionals

The NH Dept. of Agriculture recently sponsored a training day for ag professionals on helping farmers and farm businesses deal with stress. The training was provided by Karen Mastronardi and Wayne Knoblauch of NY FarmNet, affiliated with Cornell University.

One of the training resources discussed was a 4-page guide titled Assist by Caring Today: What you can do to help farm families in distress, published by Kansas State University. Another online resource mentioned in the training was Families for Depression Awareness.

More than 40 people attended the training in Concord, NH on April 2nd, including Jean Conklin, Loan Officer and Farm Tax Specialist from Yankee's White River Jct. office. Yankee Farm Credit, First Pioneer Farm Credit and other ag businesses helped sponsor this training.

North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge

The 8th Annual North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge was held March 27-28 in the Syracuse, NY area. (press release) Over 120 students from 31 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada competed. Teams from the University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison won top honors. A team from the University of Vermont, coached by Wanda Emerich, won a gold award.

Jean Conklin, Loan Officer and Farm Tax Specialist from Yankee's White River Jct. office, serves on the NAIDC Board of Directors. Yankee Director Dr. Charlie Sniffen served as a judge for the event. Farm Credit is a major sponsor for the event, with support from the Northeast AgEnhancement Program and the Farm Credit System Foundation, as well as many individual Farm Credit institutions including Yankee.

Next year's national competition will be held next April in Visalia, CA. Four regional contests will be held before then. The next northeast competition will be Nov. 5-7, 2009 in Glens Falls, NY.

Alfred Dunklee

The Board of Directors celebrated Alfred Dunklee's long service to Yankee Farm Credit and its predecessors at its meeting on March 31st. Alfred is an avid Red Sox fan, and the celebration included an appropriate cake:

Here is a close-up of the cake before Alfred wielded his knife:

Alfred served on the Board of Yankee or one of its predecessors for 33 years (1974-1983 and 1985-2009). He was Chairman for 17 years (1989-2006). Alfred led the Association through many changes, including the 1989 mergers of PCAs and FLBAs into ACAs, and the 1995 merger of Farm Credit of the Connecticut Valley and Champlain Valley Farm Credit into Yankee Farm Credit.

Over the years Alfred served with many directors and several CEOs. The current crew:

Left to right: Charlie Sniffen, Paul Gingue, Paul Doton, Rupert Chamberlin, me, Rocky Giroux, Celeste Kane-Stebbins, Paul Saenger, Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Alfred, Alan Bourbeau. Missing: Walt Gladstone.

Alfred, thank you for your leadership, guidance and wisdom over the years! Best wishes to you and Martha. See you at Annual Meeting.