FarmStart - Jon and Kristie Lucas

With help from FarmStart, Jon Lucas and his family have realized their dream of owning a dairy business. Lucas Dairy, LLC purchased a 170-cow dairy herd from David Russell in Starksboro, Vermont, earlier this month.

Jon spent the past three years managing the herd with this goal in mind. This was a mutual effort between Dave and Jon. Dave spent a number of years looking for the right person to pass his business onto. Jon’s ability, commitment and passion proved him to be this person.

Jon's experience prepared him for this milestone. Jon, age 31, participated in 4-H from age 8 to 18, attended Vermont Technical College, and then spent 10 years working on dairy farms.

This is a family effort. Jon’s wife Kristie will be using the CenterPoint accounting program provided by Red Wing to do the farm records.

Jon put his business plan together and obtained the necessary financing to purchase the dairy business. His final hurdle was how to cover his startup costs, particularly while waiting for his first milk check. This is where FarmStart provided the missing piece. Lucas Dairy, LLC applied for a FarmStart investment to cover the startup costs and spring expenses.

Senior Loan Officer Sue Kelley from the Middlebury office says, "I’m very excited to be Yankee’s FarmStart Advisor for this young business!"

Urgent - IRS Mandates Disclosure for Form 1099 Filings

Understated business income is definitely an area of IRS concern. One way in which the IRS encourages the reporting of income is by requiring those making payments to individuals to report those payments on Form 1099. For 2011 tax returns, the IRS has now mandated that taxpayers indicate whether or not they have filed all required 1099s. Taxpayers and their preparers can be penalized for failing to answer this question accurately. And, of course, there continue to be penalties for the failure to file 1099s.

Don’t be surprised when your tax preparer asks you questions about your 1099 reporting. If you are currently a tax client you will be receiving a more detailed letter in the mail in the next several days. We request that you answer the questions enclosed with it and return to us so that we can properly prepare your 2011 tax return. If you are still doing your own return, be careful about answering these new questions so that you don’t receive greetings from the IRS after you file. If you need help in filing your 1099s this year, please call your local Farm Credit office.

Newsletter - Association Insider

The first edition of our new newsletter, the Association Insider, was mailed today!

Click here to read it online.

Articles include:

• Is Farming a Business or Lifestyle?
• Westlands Farm Survives Despite Irene's Wrath
• Did You Know...Yankee Offers Crop Insurance?
• Payroll Changes for 2012
• Financial Status
• Maple Pudding Cake Recipe
• FarmStart Initiative - Steven Gleason and Michelle O'Rourke

We hope you enjoy our new newsletter. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know.

Celebrating the Fruits of Local Agriculture

Each Christmas Yankee directors and employees celebrate the diversity of local agriculture with a selection of tasty food products from farmers in Yankee's territory. This year's selection included:

Sausage - from Lincoln Farm in Randolph, VT
Eggnog - from Hatchland Farm in North Haverhill, NH
Landaff Cheese - from Landaff Creamery in Landaff, NH
Maple Syrup - from Doton Farm in Barnard, VT
Fudge - from Dutton Berry Farm in Newfane, VT
Wine - from Shelburne Vineyard in Shelburne, VT
Yogurt - from Kingdom Creamery in Hardwick, VT
Cookies - from Chazy Orchards in Chazy, NY

Once again we extend our sincere appreciation to all farmers in Yankee's territory for the wonderful bounty from their farms.

David Lane and Donald Wells

David Lane has accepted the position of Senior Loan Officer in our St. Albans branch. Dave started on November 30th. He has prior lending experience as an agricultural loan officer with Vermont Agricultural Credit Corporation (a division of VEDA) and for the Vermont Community Loan Fund where he was the Director of Lending. Prior to working at VACC, David was Deputy Secretary for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Executive Director of the Intervale Foundation. David and his wife Julie reside in South Hero where they own Crescent Bay Farm Bed and Breakfast. Dave is a graduate of the University of Vermont.

Donald Wells has joined Yankee as a Loan Officer, also in the St. Albans branch. Don was the General Manager and Controller for CDL, USA (a Canadian maple equipment company in St. Albans) and has experience in financial management and tax preparation having worked for Hub Transportation Insurance, IBM, Jacobs, Marchand, & Morrisette and KPMG, LLP. Don grew up in Sheldon and resides in Fairfield. Don is a graduate of Champlain College.

Both Dave and Don will also serve customers in Clinton County, New York, from our Chazy satellite office along with Tom St. Pierre and Chuck Custeau.

Producing Excellence

For Farm Credit's 95th anniversary celebration it is featuring the "strength, ingenuity and integrity of our nation's successful farmers and ranchers" by creating profiles for customers across the U.S. Yankee Farm Credit is proud to feature Jim and Jane Danyow of Ferrisburg, VT in this series of stories called "Producing Excellence."

Vanda Ripley

Yankee is pleased to have Vanda Ripley join our ranks as an accounting assistant working in the Williston office. Vanda is a graduate of the University of Vermont and comes to us by way of St. Michaels College where she was a payroll specialist. In addition to payroll, Vanda also has experience as a bookkeeper and a financial analyst. All of her experiences will help her handle the responsibilities of accounts payable, fixed assets and general ledger reconciliation, among many other duties.

Vanda currently lives in Underhill with her husband David and their son Parker. They also have a daughter, Emily, who lives in New Jersey. When not crunching numbers, Vanda enjoys being an amateur logger and reading her Kindle on the treadmill.

FarmStart - Corey and Ann Chapman

Yankee recently made its third FarmStart investment to Corey and Ann Chapman of Tunbridge, VT:

Corey, age 32, has worked on dairy farms all of his life. In addition he served in the military for 6 years (he returned from a year long deployment in Afghanistan last December) and he ran his own concrete business. Corey’s wife Ann is currently a stay at home mom and is expecting their fourth child in February. Corey also does some snow plowing which provides additional income during the winter months.

During the 10 years that he worked for a local dairy farmer, Corey decided that dairy farming was what he wanted to do with his life. After he returned from Afghanistan last year he began managing a herd with the hope to buy the animals down the road. The opportunity to purchase those animals presented itself this fall.

Corey purchased a 50 cow organic Holstein herd with annual production of over 22,000 lbs/cow. He will rent the facilities and will have access to 60 acres of pasture land. Along with conventional financing, Corey applied for an investment through FarmStart to help fund the purchase of the herd.

Yankee's FarmStart Advisor for the Chapmans is Morgan Greenwood Rilling, a loan officer in the White River Jct. office. Morgan says: "The Chapmans are the type of people that the FarmStart program was designed for and their eagerness and drive makes me look forward to being their advisor. They were excited to be given the opportunity to have someone work with them on the financial aspects of their business and felt that they could benefit greatly from a relationship with FarmStart."

ACORN Meeting

Yankee Director Paul Saenger and Senior Vice President Ken Button attended a day meeting held at the American Legion in Middlebury on November 10, 2011. The topic was “Financing the Working Landscape”. It was organized by the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN), the Addison County Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC) and the Addison County Regional Planning Commission. Follow this link to a news report by the Addison Independent, it gives an excellent overview of the conference.

Promotion - Jean Conklin

I am pleased to announce that Jean Conklin in our White River Jct. office has been promoted to Senior Loan Officer. This promotion recognizes the key role that Jean fills in our White River Jct. office in terms of providing both credit and financial services to customers.

Jean started work for Yankee Farm Credit in 2004. Previously she worked for 16 years for UNH Cooperative Extension as a dairy specialist. Jean is a Farm Credit Tax Specialist and Payroll Tax Specialist, as well as an IRS Enrolled Agent. She represents the Farm Credit System on the board of directors of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge. She holds a bachelors degree in animal science from the University of New Hampshire, a masters degree in dairy management from Virginia Tech, and a masters degree in business administration from Plymouth State University. Miles, her husband, and Jean operate a family dairy farm in Haverhill, NH. Jean also serves on the board of directors of Co-operative Insurance Companies of Middlebury, VT, a position she has held since 2001.

Congratulations, Jean!