Liz Bayne - Business Consultant

I am pleased to announce that Liz Bayne is Yankee Farm Credit's new Business Consultant. This new position for Yankee provides additional services to members of the agricultural community needing assistance with a variety of complex financial issues including inter-generational transfers and business planning.

Liz, who works in our White River Jct., Vermont office, brings considerable experience to this new role. She started her career with Farm Credit in 1979 and has served in a variety of roles including credit, credit review, payroll and recordkeeping services, income tax preparation, and most recently, appraisal.

Liz is a Farm Credit Tax Specialist, an Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service, and a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser licensed in New Hampshire and Vermont. Through her appraisal work and her service on the Lands Committee of the Upper Valley Land Trust, she has considerable experience with conservation easements. This wide variety of experience provides an ideal background for her new role as Business Consultant which began October 1st.

Liz will continue to have responsibilities in appraisal and tax preparation and she will continue to report to Director of Financial Services Geoff Yates. She will also work closely with consultants from Farm Credit East, particularly Bill Zweigbaum.

Please join me in congratulating Liz on her new role. We at Yankee Farm Credit are pleased to offer these additional consulting services to the agricultural community. If you have a consulting question, please contact Liz at 802-295-3670 or elizabeth.bayne@yankeeaca.com.

Director Nominations

It's that time of year again when Yankee's Nominating Committee begins selecting director candidates for the elections in April 2014. There will be one director elected in each of the three regions. Each position is for a three year term. If you would like to be considered for nomination, please contact a member of the Nominating Committee at the numbers below or call your local branch.

Region #1 (Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle counties, VT; Essex and Clinton counties, NY)
Arnold Mercy 802-326-4200
Wynn Paradee 802-524-4202
Mark Wrisley 518-963-4039

Region #2 (Caledonia, Essex, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington counties, VT; Coos and Grafton counties, NH)
Paul Gingue 802-748-8843
Richard Martin 802-328-4120
Patrick Waterbury 802-785-4753

Region #3 (Addison, Bennington, Rutland, Windham, Windsor counties, VT; Cheshire and Sullivan counties, NH)
David Ainsworth 802-763-8017
Bruce Bascom 603-835-6361
Kim Harvey 802-483-6130

If you have any questions about the Nominating Committee, please contact John Peters, Chief Credit Officer at 800-639-3053.

You can find general information about the director nomination process and the role of directors on the Farm Credit Administration's web site.

Tile Drainage Research Conference at Miner Institute

Miner Institute will be holding a tile drainage research conference on Thursday, October 24th from 10am to 3pm.  For more information please click here.

Fall at Yankee Farm Credit

Fall is in full swing, the leaves are changing, corn is getting chopped and it's pumpkin season! Thanks to one of our directors; Walt Gladstone, we have a personalized Yankee Farm Credit pumpkin!

Farmstart - Jordan Kane

Jordan Kane is Yankee’s most recent FarmStart investment. In addition to working full time as a service technician for a local sugaring equipment manufacturer as well as cutting and selling fire wood,  Jordan, his father and grandfather operate a sugaring operation in Richford, VT. While most of the syrup is sold in bulk, Jordan retains some for retail sale and manufactures chocolates and maple cream, all of which are sold at local farmers markets and craft shows.

Jordan began sugaring with his grandfather when he was just 14 years of age, starting with 300 buckets. Today Jordan is up to almost 2,300 taps all of which are on vacuum system pipeline (no more buckets).

After a great deal of thought and planning Jordan decided that he wanted to own and operate his own sugaring operation. In 2011, Jordan, with help from his parents, began building a new sugarhouse next to the family home. The sugar house, which is basically completed except for minor changes and additions, is ready for service.

Jordan came to Yankee seeking funding for the purchase of a pellet fired evaporator and a reverse osmosis system. Jordan put together and presented a business plan to his FarmStart advisor showing where is operation is now, where he plans to take it 2014 and beyond, as well as how he plans to get there.

The goal of FarmStart is to provide working capital to help start-up farmers establish a positive business and credit history during the early phases of their business careers. Within five years, recipients should be positioned to graduate to a conventional line of credit from Yankee or another lender.

Loan Officer Suzanne Petig in the St. Albans office is Jordan’s FarmStart advisor. To find out more about the FarmStart program contact the branch nearest you or e-mail FarmStart@Yankeeaca.com.

VDIA/VFD Fall Conference

The Vermont Dairy Industry Association and Vermont Feed Dealers held their annual meeting on Tuesday, September 10th at the Stoweflake Resort in Stowe. Ken Button and Mike Farmer represented Yankee. The day began with VDIA President Julie Smith welcoming everyone to the new location. She then introduced Agri-Mark’s Bob Wellington for a lively discussion about milk prices. He noted Class IV prices are keeping the Blend price up right now and wanted everyone to be aware of the value Agri-Mark gains from selling whey. Twenty years ago it cost them to dispose of whey, it’s now a source of revenue and the non-dried whey they produce from white cheddar is in demand as a food ingredient. We then learned about Bob White Systems experience developing a low investment low impact (LILI) on-farm milk pasteurizer. Their initial goal of building a system that costs less than $20,000 has now resulted in a much more efficient and unit but one that cost over $80,000. Brett Denny from VT DHIA updated the group regarding services they are now providing since their merger with Lancaster DHIA. They are still operating as VT DHIA but have gained access to much more lab testing. After lunch the Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year winner, the Gervais Family from Bakersfield, gave us a presentation about their dairy business. This three generation dairy includes almost 10 family members and they produce milk at two locations, raising all their own replacements and livestock. They also have a methane digester and produce maple syrup. A related company Boston Post Dairy, owned by the sisters, produces goats milk cheese. Yankee staff and directors sampled their cheeses in our 2012 Christmas Baskets. Following the presentation by Clement Gervais, the Keith Tupper Award was presented to Gene Archambault who is a quality control inspector for St. Albans Co-op. The final sessions of the day were presentations by farmer and author Michele Payn-Knoper discussing how to portray agriculture in a positive light and to tell our own story. She shared insight from around the country dealing with attacks on agriculture and tries to get farmers to act to share with the non-farm public just what it is that farmers do. We also received copies of her most recent book “No More Food Fights”.

Our last activity was the evening banquet where we were joined by the Vermont Feed Dealers and Manufacturers Association. With over 100 people in the crowd we were challenged by Trent Loos of Quincy, IL to also take action to advocate for agriculture. Trent has a nationally aired radio broadcast called Loos Tales launched in 2001. In 2008 he was recognized as the “Voice of Rural America” by the West Quest organization. He has accepted the challenge to speak for rural America advocating for agriculture and speaking on behalf of the folks who would rather stay home and tend to their crops and livestock than take on those attacking their life-sustaining industry. 

2014 and Beyond - Health Insurance Changes

Starting October 1, 2013 changes are coming in the way we all choose and pay for health insurance coverage. We have put together a list of resources by state to assist you and your employees in making healthcare decisions for 2014 and beyond.

If you are a Vermont resident-

Visit http://healthconnect.vermont.gov, there is a wealth of information available on this site.

Call the Small Business Hotline at 855-499-9800.

Visit http://vbsr.org/health_exchange_help

Call the general information line at 855-899-9600.

Contact a navigator or your insurance broker; Navigators have received specific training in this area and are available at no cost to you; contact information for the navigators is available on the Health Connect website.

If you are a New Hampshire resident or small business owner please visit- https://www.healthcare.gov – The site has limited information currently but should be fully up and running by October 1. This is the Federal Healthcare site as NH decided not to set up its own exchange.

If you are a New York resident or small business owner please visit- http://healthbenefitexchange.ny.gov - This is New York’s state healthcare exchange, a lot of information is available here.

Brodie Shephard - Farm Credit Fellow

Farm Credit Fellow Brodie Shephard of Cazenovia, NY visited the St. Albans office the week of August 12^th. While not growing up on a farm, she has roots in agriculture as her grandparents farmed. She is entering her Junior year at Cornell University majoring in business economics. While visiting the St. Albans office she had the opportunity to learn about the dairy and maple industries in Franklin county. She also visited a winery in Grand Isle and a large farmstand/greenhouse operation in Chittenden county.  She sat in on office visits with customers and helped key loan application information to be analyzed.  After graduation she has interest in a career involving finances.

Andrew Whitney - Farm Credit Fellow

Farm Credit Fellow Andrew Whitney of Hardwick, VT visited the St. Albans office the week of August 21^st.  Andrew is entering his senior year at UVM as part of the 2+2 program. He spent the summer working at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, VT. Andrew hopes to own a dairy farm after graduation and realizes the challenges of getting started. While visiting the St. Albans office he had the opportunity to visit a modern dairy farm with robotic milkers.  He also visited maple operations, a winery in Grand Isle, and a large farmstand/greenhouse operation in Chittenden county. He sat in on office visits with customers and helped key loan application information to be analyzed.

Emilie Strand - Farm Credit Fellow

Emilie Strand visited the Newport office last week as part of the Farm Credit Fellows program. Emilie is from Cazadero, California. In high school Emile became interested in livestock, especially dairy cattle, through FFA and cattle judging. She also participated in high school rodeo events. She caught the “bug” and earned money through her first two years of college at Modesto Junior College (Modesto, CA) by clipping cattle for shows, pictures, and registered cattle classification. She is about to start her senior year at Cornell University where she will graduate with a BA in Animal Science, concentrated in dairy. While visiting the Newport office Emilie participated in construction inspections, learned about maple production, saw her first robotic milking system, and learned more about Farm Credit, as well as the agriculture in Vermont. Prior to her one week Fellow internship, Emilie spent the summer doing an internship with Alta Genetics in the mid-west, spending most of her time in Wisconsin and Minnesota.