2013 Congressional Visits

On June 19th Yankee Farm Credit visited Congressional offices in Washington, DC. Participating were: Chairperson Rocky Giroux, Vice Chairperson Alan Bourbeau, Board Member Steve Taylor, Senior Loan Officer Dave Lane and Bob Smith. Bob Smith is a senior vice president of Farm Credit East who assists several associations with government relations.

The Yankee group visited people in eight Congressional offices:

• Adrienne Wojciechowski in Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Office
• Leah Drew in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Office
• Emily Lynch in Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s Office
• Erica Anhalt in Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s Office
• Rep. Bill Owens and Nell Maceda
• Rep. Peter Welch and Bob Rogan
• Rep. Ann McLane Kuster and Blake Anderson
• Tony Hobbs in Rep. Carol Shea-Porter’s Office

In addition, they attended “coffees” with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster.

Our main message this year was an update on how Yankee Farm Credit is meeting the needs of our members by providing constructive credit that grew our diverse loan portfolio by 13%. In addition, Yankee Farm Credit paid $4.9 million in patronage refunds to member-customers by maintaining excellent financial results. The message was well received. In addition, the Congressional Offices were keenly interested in Yankee Farm Credit’s involvement and success with the FarmStart program serving beginning, young and small farmers.

The Senate had passed a Farm Bill the previous week and the House version of the Farm Bill was on the floor. Representatives were encouraged to pass out of the House a Farm Bill in order to get a bill into Conference Committee. The message included the need to establish through a Farm Bill the future policies and direction of agriculture on which our members could plan. The Farm Bill in the House was defeated on June 20th by 195 yes to 234 no votes.

Other issues mentioned were the need to maintain a strong crop insurance program, the importance of the Farm Service Agency’s Loan Guarantee program, and immigration reform that would improve farm labor by stabilizing the labor force now and creating a provision for foreign labor going forward. Each office was provided with a copy of the Association Insider and Yankee Farm Credit Annual Report.

While in DC the group also visited with Jeff Shipp and Robbie Boone of the Farm Credit Council and Sarah Tyree of CoBank.

Note from George Putnam: Thanks to Senior Loan Officer Dave Lane for representing Yankee Farm Credit, together with three directors and Bob Smith, and for writing the above report.

Kelsey Derstein - Intern

Kelsey Derstein of Lewistown, PA is working in the Williston office as a summer intern. She is going to be a senior this fall at Pennsylvania State University studying Animal Science Business and minoring in Agribusiness Management. While attending Penn State, Kelsey has been active in several clubs including the Navigators and the Penn State Block and Bridle. Last year she joined the AgChoice Scholars program which is two-year program for a select group of Penn State students run by AgChoice Farm Credit. Kelsey grew up on her family’s 3,000 head swine operation and hopes to work in the business aspect of the swine industry after graduation.

2013 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge

The North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC) held its 2013 national contest in Fort Wayne, IN this past April. NAIDC is a two day competition for students to represent their dairy science programs from North American universities. During the contest, students apply theory and learning to evaluate a working dairy farm. The students are then expected to develop recommendations for nutrition, reproduction, milking procedures, animal health, housing and financial management. These recommendations are presented to a panel of five judges for consideration.

The panel of judges includes dairy producers and industry experts in dairy finances, reproduction, nutrition, and animal health. Jean Conklin, Senior Loan Officer and Tax Specialist from the White River Jct. Office, became involved with the Dairy Challenge in 2003 when Don Rogers invited her to be on the judges’ panel for the first Northeast Regional contest. Jean, who works with her husband on their dairy farm in New Hampshire, thought that this opportunity sounded interesting and looked forward to working with the students and the other judges. She was elected in 2007 to the National Board of Directors and was re-elected in 2010.

The National Board is made up of 15 members. Jean represented both the Northeast and Farm Credit. She mentions that being on the board is very hands on and it is important for members to secure funding for the annual event. Farm Credit is the biggest contributor for the NAIDC and is a 16 star platinum sponsor as listed in the 2013 program.

Over the past few years it was noticed that the National Dairy Challenge was meeting its limit of 128 students and wanted to add something that was not competitive but educational. The Dairy Challenge Academy saw its first event this past April running in conjunction with the Dairy Challenge as a separate program. Jean says that the great thing about the Dairy Challenge Academy is that students participating do not have to be from a 4 year school which is one of the requirements for the NAIDC. Instead students from a 1 year or a 2 year school can also attend. The addition of the academy attracted 95 more students to the event. The academy places these students into larger teams that analyze the same farms as the Dairy Challenge while providing an educational aspect. Jean reports that the board has received positive feedback on the Dairy Challenge Academy and hopes that the academy continues to grow in numbers.

When asked what some of the opportunities are for students participating in the Dairy Challenge, Jean says that it is a great opportunity to visit different parts of the country. In 2010 the national contest was held in California. Students had the opportunity to visit other dairies before the contest began since most students had never visited a California dairy farm. The contest also allows students to meet other students, interact with the industry through tradeshows, and participate in seminars. The academy featured a career panel as well as a tech presentation in which Jean presented the 5 C’s of Credit to the students.

While Jean’s time on the national board is coming to an end, she plans to stay involved regionally. She would encourage those who are considering becoming a board member to get involved at the regional level. The Northeast contest will be taking place in the Plattsburgh/Chazy, NY area this fall. The mission of the NAIDC is to facilitate education, communication, and an exchange of ideas among students, agribusiness, dairy producers and universities that enhances the development of the dairy industry and its leaders. We can support the contest and the dairy industry by being at the regional contest this fall, volunteering and getting involved. For more information please visit http://www.dairychallenge.org/.

Cassie Bromley - Farm Credit Fellow

Yankee’s second Farm Credit Fellow of the summer was Cassie Bromley. Cassie visited the White River Junction office the week of May 20th. She grew up on a 65 cow family dairy farm in Wallingford, Vermont. She graduated from Mill River Union High School in 2009 and then went on to Vermont Technical College where she participated in the 2+2 program, majored in Dairy Farm Management and worked on the VTC farm. Cassie graduated from VTC in 2011 before taking a year off to work on a goat dairy farm in Manchester, VT. She returned to the 2+2 program for the fall 2012 semester at UVM and then spent the Spring 2013 semester at the Miner Research Institute in Chazy, NY. While at Miner, Cassie and her peers worked closely with progressive dairy researchers, attended meetings around the Country, heard speakers from throughout the northeast and attended the regional and national Dairy Challenges.

When Cassie was asked to write about her time with us in White River, here is what she had to say: “During this week I was able to see and hear about at least nine different types of businesses within the agricultural industry in Yankee’s territory. Farm Credit reaches out to help a lot of different types of farms and without Farm Credit’s help I believe our industry wouldn’t have the financial stability to continue.”

Finn Bondeson - Farm Credit Fellow

Farm Credit Fellow Finn Bondeson of Woodland, Aroostook County, Maine, spent the week of May 13-17 as a Farm Credit Fellow in our Middlebury office. Finn is from the potato-growing region of Maine, and grew up on a family farm producing potatoes, oats, and hay, as well as roughly 15 head of beef cattle. Finn’s family also manages a greenhouse operation, selling annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, and vegetable plants. Finn is a third-year Civil Engineering major at the University of Maine, but has always fostered and continues to foster an interest in agriculture. While in the Middlebury office, Finn had the pleasure of learning about the dairy and maple industries in Vermont and has been able to travel Addison and Rutland Counties to see the local dairies, orchards, and sugarhouses. Finn would like to thank the Middlebury office and Yankee Farm Credit for their kind hospitality throughout the week.

1st Quarter Financial Results

First quarter net income for Yankee was $2.3 million, an increase of $195 thousand over the same quarter in 2012. The most significant factors driving the increase were increases of $323 thousand in net interest income and $97 thousand in other income. These increases were offset by an increase in the provision for credit losses of $92 thousand and an increase of $133 thousand in other expenses.

Loans held by the Association at March 31, 2013 were $375.5 million, up 11.3 percent from the prior year. The loan portfolio continues to be concentrated in the dairy industry, with 55 percent of the loans invested in dairy businesses. The second largest concentration is timber, with 13 percent of the loan volume at quarter-end.

Credit quality across Yankee’s loan portfolio remained strong during the quarter and well within the risk-bearing capacity of the Association. At quarter-end 1.5 percent of the Association's loans were classified as nonperforming, unchanged from the end of 2012. There were no loan charge-offs, but recoveries of $7 thousand in the quarter. The Association’s capital position remains strong.

The 2012 patronage refund to members in the amount of $4.9 million was paid 100% in cash on March 25, 2013.

Producing Excellence

Last year the Farm Credit System celebrated it's 95th anniversary! In honor of the anniversary celebration the "Producing Excellence" series of stories was created in order to feature the success, strength and diversity of farmers and ranchers across the U.S. through "profiles" of Farm Credit customers.

The original goal was to get to 95 customer profiles for the 95th anniversary, but because the program had such a positive response Farm Credit began to expand and feature more farms. In the review of the first series, it was realized that U.S. agriculture was not fully represented; there were both states and industries that were missing from the series.

We are very pleased to have been contacted to feature Taylor Brother's Farm. The Taylor's are from Meriden, NH; they have a dairy farm where they produce artisan cheeses as well as maple products. To see their "Producing Excellence" profile, please follow this link:

http://www.farmcreditnetwork.com/producingexcellence/profiles/single/157.

Board Officers and Committees

At the April 30, 2013 board meeting, the Board of Directors elected the following officers:

Chairperson – Rocklyn A. Giroux
Vice Chairperson – Alan J. Bourbeau

Also approved were committee assignments:

Executive Committee
Rocklyn A. Giroux, Chairperson
Alan J. Bourbeau
Bryan E. Davis
Walter M. Gladstone
Celeste Kane-Stebbins

Audit Committee
Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Chairperson
Thomas J. Colgan
Paul B. Franklin
Paul F. Saenger
Stephen H. Taylor

Compensation Committee
Celeste Kane-Stebbins, Chairperson
Rocki-Lee DeWitt
Walter M. Gladstone
Paul F. Saenger
Stephen H. Taylor

Membership/Governance Committee
Alan J. Bourbeau, Chairperson
Thomas J. Colgan
Bryan E. Davis
Paul B. Franklin
Bradley N. Maxwell

Farm Credit Fellows



From left to right:  Dr. Charles Ferriera (UVM), Cassie Bromley (Wallingford, VT)

Andrew Whitney (Hardwick, VT), Kelly Richardson (Loan Officer - YFC),

Kaitlin Benoit (Richford, VT)



The 2013/2014 class of the Farm Credit Fellows program kicked off last week at the Farm Credit East headquarters in Enfield, CT.  On Thursday and Friday, April 18^th and 19^th this year's Fellows program began with twenty-eight students participating from Cornell University, University of Maine at Orono, University of Vermont, and University of Connecticut.

Doug Williams, Managing Director of Administration for the Funding Corporation, and David Sparks, Eastern Region President for CoBank, were on hand to explain how the funding process works and the working relationships they have with the individual ACAs, like Yankee.  Tom Moran, President and CEO of Financial Partners Inc. also gave a presentation about FPI's formation and the exciting new technical advances designed to make loan processing more efficient.  The day wrapped up with an introduction to a case study and a mock interview with a “customer.”

Day two started off with a discussion with Farm Credit East CEO Bill Lipinski about Farm Credit and the opportunities it provides both as a work place and as a lender.  The program then turned back to the case study.  The Fellows were split into two groups and given instructions to prepare arguments either for or against the loan.  With the help of a group of Farm Credit East employees, known as the Ambassadors, the groups prepared their arguments and made their cases to Loan Committee.  It was a tight race this year, but the approvals won over the denials.  The day wrapped up with Ben Freund, FCE Director from East Canaan, Connecticut giving a Farm Credit Director’s perspective.

The students will continue with the program throughout the coming year.  While each school's program is a little different, the students from Cornell, U of Maine, and UVM will all be spending a week in a Farm Credit office this summer.  Next fall they will participate in a classroom setting and will complete projects related to financial management.  Check back here on the Yankee ACA blog over the summer to follow the Fellows who visit Yankee as they make their scheduled trips to the different branch offices.  



Director Election Results

The last of four annual meetings was held last night in Randolph, VT. 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 – Alan Bourbeau
Region 2 – Bryan Davis
Region 3 – Paul Saenger

Congratulations to Alan, Bryan and Paul. And thanks to Jesse Laflamme and Jane Clifford for participating in the elections as candidates.

Thank you to everyone for participating, and a special thanks to employees for organizing and running successful meetings.