- Joseph Carrigan
- Ronald Greenwood
- Richard Moore
- Harry Morse Sr.
- Lucien Paquette.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
2014 Ag Hall of Fame Inductees
Congratulations to the five people inducted into the Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame on August 27th at the Champlain Valley Fair!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
New Employee - Katy Coombs
Yankee Farm Credit is pleased to announce the hiring of
Katy Coombs. Katy joined the White River Junction office as a Credit Analyst in
late June.
Katy graduated from Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar,
VA with a bachelor’s degree in business management and a certificate in
equestrian studies. Katy was a member of the Field Team at Sweet Briar, an
equestrian team which participated in fox hunting, hunter paces, hunter trials,
and riding out.
Growing up on her family farm in Sandwich, NH, Katy
developed a love for farming, agricultural recreation, and animals. During high school and college, she worked in many different capacities for her family’s company,
A&B Lumber in Moultonborough, NH. Katy has also worked as a horse trainer
and riding instructor for many years in New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York.
Katy relocated to Woodstock, VT, where she currently
lives with her Llewellyn Setter, Hank, and her beloved Morgan Horse, Shadow.
Katy is active in the local equestrian and polo communities in the Upper Valley
region of Vermont and New Hampshire.
From Katy: “I have really enjoyed my time so far with Yankee Farm
Credit and am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that my
future with the company may hold. Growing up in a farming family, I have
always held a very strong admiration and respect for the culture and the
individuals in the agriculture world. I am excited to be able to combine
my passion for agriculture and my education in business to see what I can offer
Yankee Farm Credit and the local community.”
Katy brings superlative energy and potential to the
Yankee team. Please join us in welcoming her to the staff!
New Employee - Denise Kellner
We are pleased to announce the hiring of Denise Kellner.
Denise was hired as a loan officer in the St. Albans office, and started work
in late June.
Denise lives in East Fairfield, VT with her husband, Ted,
and her 9 year old son, Hazen. She enjoys the outdoor life, spending many
weekends each summer camping with her family.
Denise lives in East Fairfield, VT with her husband, Ted,
and her 9 year old son, Hazen. She enjoys the outdoor life, spending many
weekends each summer camping with her family.
As an active and involved member of the community, Denise
regularly volunteers her time. She currently serves on the board of directors
for the Fairfield Community Center, and spent many years helping to raise money
for the Dragon Heart Vermont Survivorship Now program, acting as a team captain
in the annual Dragon Boat Festival.
With her diverse and accomplished background, Denise
brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Yankee. She was the Assistant
Vice President and Branch Manager of Citizens Bank in St. Albans, held a
Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System registration, and also worked as a Branch
Administrator with Edward Jones in Essex, VT.
Denise is excited to join the Yankee family and to get
back into lending. Please join us in giving her a warm welcome!
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
2014 Farm Tour
On Friday, July 25th, Yankee employees, directors, and guests from CoBank toured a variety of farm operations in the Connecticut River Valley-- part of the territory of Yankee's White River Junction branch.
Under the cloudless sky of a beautiful summer day, the group traveled first to Vaughan Farms--a family dairy operation in East Thetford, VT. Owners Pat Waterbury and Darren Vaughan gave a tour of their new free stall barn, which includes 4 robotic milkers. Pat and Darren built the 240 cow facility in 2013 and have had positive results with increased productivity and efficiency from their transition to robotic milkers.
After saying goodbye to Pat and Darren, the group traveled just down the road to Long Wind Farm, Inc, also in East Thetford. Long Wind is a large-scale organic tomato farm that focuses on wholesale produce markets, selling most of their crop to regional grocers while also maintaining a popular farm stand. All of the tomatoes are grown in greenhouses. Many greenhouses of varying sizes dot the Long Wind property.
Owner/Operator Dave Chapman, gave the group a tour of his facilities. Of particular interest was Long Wind's newest greenhouse--a large, state-of-the-art, Dutch-designed greenhouse that was erected recently by a construction firm based in The Netherlands. The greenhouse (shown in the picture to the right) covers over an acre of land, and features an automated roof cleaning system, advanced polymer and glass construction, and a ventilation system that can clear and change out the air in the greenhouse in less than 45 seconds.
After leaving Long Wind, the group crossed the Connecticut River and visited McNamara Dairy in Plainfield, NH. The McNamara's are a 3 generation dairy farm, with many members of the family involved in the everyday running of the farm--which includes a dairy operation, a bottling plant, and a sugarhouse.
The group finished lunch and thanked the McNamara's for their hospitality, and boarded the bus and again crossed the Connecticut River. The tour's last stop was at Oak Knoll Dairy, LLC in Windsor, VT. Owners George Redick and Karen Lindbo, who have operated the goat farm for over two decades, led the group on a tour of their facilities.
Under the cloudless sky of a beautiful summer day, the group traveled first to Vaughan Farms--a family dairy operation in East Thetford, VT. Owners Pat Waterbury and Darren Vaughan gave a tour of their new free stall barn, which includes 4 robotic milkers. Pat and Darren built the 240 cow facility in 2013 and have had positive results with increased productivity and efficiency from their transition to robotic milkers.
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| The Vaughan's 2014 corn crop is looking great! |
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| Ken Nelson, Assistant Vice President of the White River Junction Branch, asks Pat to discuss the process of transitioning from a milking parlor to robotic milkers |
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| Pat shows a few of our directors some of the reports that he can generate with his new robotic milking system |
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| Happy cows! |
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| The robots in action! |
After saying goodbye to Pat and Darren, the group traveled just down the road to Long Wind Farm, Inc, also in East Thetford. Long Wind is a large-scale organic tomato farm that focuses on wholesale produce markets, selling most of their crop to regional grocers while also maintaining a popular farm stand. All of the tomatoes are grown in greenhouses. Many greenhouses of varying sizes dot the Long Wind property.
After leaving Long Wind, the group crossed the Connecticut River and visited McNamara Dairy in Plainfield, NH. The McNamara's are a 3 generation dairy farm, with many members of the family involved in the everyday running of the farm--which includes a dairy operation, a bottling plant, and a sugarhouse.
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| The group enters the McNamara Dairy storefront and bottling plant |
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| Tom McNamara explains the milk bottling process to the group |
McNamara Dairy bottles the majority of their milk themselves, selling a variety of milk and dairy products in their own store, as well as in dozens of stores throughout the region. Products include whole, 2%, and skim milk, heavy cream known for its exceptional density and turgid longevity post-whipping, butter, and a delicious and renown chocolate milk that is made with a locally sourced chocolate. McNamara milk is recognized by its distinctive bottles--thick and heavy glass containers available in several different sizes.
After touring the McNamara's extensive operation, the group settled down in front of the family's beautiful farmhouse and had lunch. The offerings included sandwiches made with ham and turkey from local smokehouses and farms, potato salad (also made from local produce), blueberry pies, and pints of McNamara milk!
The group finished lunch and thanked the McNamara's for their hospitality, and boarded the bus and again crossed the Connecticut River. The tour's last stop was at Oak Knoll Dairy, LLC in Windsor, VT. Owners George Redick and Karen Lindbo, who have operated the goat farm for over two decades, led the group on a tour of their facilities.
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| In the milking parlor |
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| Goats are fed a pre-measured amount of grain via a chute |
Oak Knoll Dairy bottles and packages its own goat milk and yogurt. Their products are sold up and down the eastern United States, with one refrigerated truck delivering milk and yogurt all the way to Georgia! The group enjoyed taste testing goat's milk--both plain and chocolate--as well as the yogurt. Oak Knoll also sells a portion of their herd for meat.
Yankee would like to give a big thank you to all of the farmers involved with the tour, who graciously opened up their farms and offered excellent insight into their daily operations.Yankee would also like to thank all who attended, including our friends at CoBank. A special thank you goes to the White River Junction branch staff who helped to plan the tour. It was a wonderful day!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Congressional Visits
On July 30, Yankee Farm Credit visited Congressional offices in Washington, DC. Participating were: Chairperson Rocky Giroux, Board Member Steve Taylor, Board Member Walt Gladstone, Staff Appraiser Rob Guay 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:
Our main message was to remind our representatives that Yankee Farm Credit continues to meet the needs of our members by providing constructive credit and related services. In addition to healthy loan growth in 2013, Yankee Farm Credit paid $4.9 million in patronage refunds to member-customers by maintaining excellent financial results. The Congressional Offices were keenly interested in Yankee Farm Credit’s involvement and success with programs serving beginning, young and small farmers, including the FarmStart program. We urged our representatives to continue to support a strong cooperative Farm Credit System and the message was well received.
The Senate passed an immigration reform bill last year but the House had not yet addressed this issue. We expressed our support for immigration reform, stressing the need to address agricultural labor issues so that our members can be assured a reliable work force. Representatives were encouraged to support either comprehensive immigration reform or at least legislation which addresses the needs of our nation's farmers for year-round guest workers.
The Farm Bill passed earlier this year places a great deal of importance on the Federal Crop Insurance Program to protect farmers' production investments, rather than direct subsidy payments. This has placed the risk management decision making directly in the hands of farm owners. We expressed our support for this strategy but stressed the need for the implementation process to consider the unique attributes of Northeast agriculture to ensure that the Northeast maintains a strong agricultural industry.
Other issues addressed included the need to monitor the Food Safety Modernization Act rulemaking and implementation process, administered by the FDA. We urged our representatives to get involved if the FDA proposes regulations which are inflexible and do not allow sufficient time for farms to comply as this could have significant negative impact on our members' farms. We also asked our representatives to monitor the EPA's actions related to the expansion of their jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to ensure that members' farms are not negatively impacted by overly onerous EPA regulation. Each office was provided with an informational packet which included a Business Profile, a Public Policy Statement and information about our most recent FarmStart investment.
While in DC the group also visited with Jeff Shipp, Jennie Materio and Robbie Boone of the Farm Credit Council and Todd Van Hoose of CoBank.
The Yankee group visited people in eight Congressional offices:
- Sen. Patrick Leahy and Adrienne Wojciechowski
- Rep. Peter Welch and Patrick Satalin
- Rep. Ann McLane Kuster and Meghan Gaffney Buck
- Rep. Bill Owens and Nell Maceda
- Kathryn Tanner in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Office
- Emily Lynch in Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s Office
- Erica Anhalt in Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s Office
- Caryn Compton in Sen. Bernard Sander's Office
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| Left to Right: Rob Guay-Staff Appraiser, Walt Gladstone-Board Member, Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, Rocky Giroux-Board Chairperson, Steve Taylor-Board Member |
Our main message was to remind our representatives that Yankee Farm Credit continues to meet the needs of our members by providing constructive credit and related services. In addition to healthy loan growth in 2013, Yankee Farm Credit paid $4.9 million in patronage refunds to member-customers by maintaining excellent financial results. The Congressional Offices were keenly interested in Yankee Farm Credit’s involvement and success with programs serving beginning, young and small farmers, including the FarmStart program. We urged our representatives to continue to support a strong cooperative Farm Credit System and the message was well received.
The Senate passed an immigration reform bill last year but the House had not yet addressed this issue. We expressed our support for immigration reform, stressing the need to address agricultural labor issues so that our members can be assured a reliable work force. Representatives were encouraged to support either comprehensive immigration reform or at least legislation which addresses the needs of our nation's farmers for year-round guest workers.
The Farm Bill passed earlier this year places a great deal of importance on the Federal Crop Insurance Program to protect farmers' production investments, rather than direct subsidy payments. This has placed the risk management decision making directly in the hands of farm owners. We expressed our support for this strategy but stressed the need for the implementation process to consider the unique attributes of Northeast agriculture to ensure that the Northeast maintains a strong agricultural industry.
Other issues addressed included the need to monitor the Food Safety Modernization Act rulemaking and implementation process, administered by the FDA. We urged our representatives to get involved if the FDA proposes regulations which are inflexible and do not allow sufficient time for farms to comply as this could have significant negative impact on our members' farms. We also asked our representatives to monitor the EPA's actions related to the expansion of their jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to ensure that members' farms are not negatively impacted by overly onerous EPA regulation. Each office was provided with an informational packet which included a Business Profile, a Public Policy Statement and information about our most recent FarmStart investment.
While in DC the group also visited with Jeff Shipp, Jennie Materio and Robbie Boone of the Farm Credit Council and Todd Van Hoose of CoBank.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Q2 Financial Results
What a wonderful summer we have had so far! Yankee’s second quarter financial results are
now available and we can announce that we had a good quarter. Favorable net income resulting from increased
net interest income and other income were offset by increases in the provision
for credit losses and operating expenses.
The balance sheet shows that loans were down from year-end, and from the
previous quarter. The quality of the
loan portfolio remains strong and is expected to remain that way in the
foreseeable future. Good members taking
advantage of the favorable milk prices, growing conditions and weather are a
primary reason for these good results.
Quarterly net
income for Yankee was $2.0
million, a decrease of $154 thousand over
the same period in 2013. The
most
significant factor driving the decrease was an increase of
$424 thousand to the provision for
credit losses. This was partially offset
by an increase other income of
$205 thousand over the same period in 2013.
For the first six months of 2014, net income was unchanged
from 2013 at $.4 million. Net interest
income increased 8 percent to $7.3 million.
There was a provision for credit losses of $752 thousand through the second
quarter of 2014, as compared to a provision of $161 during the same period of
2013. Other income increased $324
thousand, primarily due to an increase in income from patronage refunds from
CoBank, ACB and income from fees for financial services.
Loans held by the Association at June
30, 2014 were $401.9 million, down 2.8 percent from year end. The loan portfolio continues to be
concentrated in the dairy industry with 51 percent of loan invested in dairy
businesses. The second largest
concentration is timber, with 14 percent of 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 0.8 percent of the Association loans were classified as nonperforming, unchanged
from the previous quarter and from year end. There were loan charge-offs of $19 thousand, but no recoveries
in the quarter. The
Association’s capital
position remains strong.
Click here for the
full quarterly Report to Shareholders.
Middlebury Office Construction Update
Its been a couple of weeks since the last post, and things are progressing quickly. Frost walls were poured and then all the "stuff" that goes under the cement pad was installed.
The pad was poured last week. Boy, did things then go fast!! Walls went up on Monday and Tuesday.
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