Congressional Visits

On June 24th Yankee visited Congressional offices in Washington, DC. Participating were: Chairperson Paul Gingue, former Chairperson Paul Doton, Bob Smith and me. Bob Smith is a senior vice president of First Pioneer Farm Credit who assists several associations with government relations.

We visited people in eight Congressional offices:

• Jim Gauthier in Sen. Judd Gregg's office (and briefly met Sen. Gregg)
• Todd Schulte in Rep. Scott Murphy's office
• Sara Dewey in Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's office
• Sen. Bernie Sanders and Janko Mitric
• Rep. Peter Welch and Jake Oster
• Sarah Levin in Rep. Paul Hodes' office
• Adam Robbins in Rep. Carol Shea-Porter's office
• Brian Baenig in Sen. Patrick Leahy's office

Our main message this year was that we are meeting the needs of our customers and doing business as usual, notwithstanding the financial crisis last fall and the current downturn affecting many of our customers, especially in the dairy and timber industries. We are lending money; our financial results are good; we continue to pay patronage refunds; and the Farm Credit System has not needed any government assistance. This message was well received.

Earlier this month President Obama released a proposal for Financial Regulatory Reform. This plan proposes to reform the regulation of financial institutions, but leaves for future consideration any action relating to the GSEs. Farm Credit is not mentioned. We conveyed the message that as this proposal evolves, we believe that Farm Credit can best continue to fulfill our Congressional mandate and meet the needs of our customers if we remain a system of farmer-owned cooperatives, under the regulatory supervision of the Farm Credit Administration and with Congressional oversight remaining with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.

We also discussed farm labor issues and the dairy industry. We provided each office with a copy of the Northeast Dairy Farm Summary published last month.

UPDATE: Received this photo from Rep. Welch's office:

Growth Management Plan

A "Growth Management Plan" for the dairy industry has been proposed by the Milk Producers Council of California. Here's a brief overview of the plan.

All dairy farms already track their milk production. Each quarter, production would be compared to the same quarter the previous year. If production increased by more than the "Allowable Growth," the farmer would pay a "Market Access Fee" on the farm's entire production that quarter. The total sum of money collected from the Market Access Fees would be distributed to those farms whose production did not exceed the Allowable Growth.

The Allowable Growth and the Market Access Fee would be determined from time to time by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in consultation with an advisory board. The Milk Producers Council estimates that Allowable Growth would be 1.5-3% and that the Market Access Fee would be $0.50-0.75/cwt.

The GMP is not intended to increase average milk prices over the industry cycle. It is intended to make the cycle less volatile.

This plan, or a close variation of it, is supported by Dairy Farmers Working Together and the Holstein Association USA (they both call it the Dairy Price Stabilization Plan). The plan calls for compulsory participation by all dairy farmers in the U.S., and therefore would require Congressional action to implement.

Rob Vandenheuvel, General Manager of the Milk Producers Council, explained the GMP at the NEDLT meeting earlier this month. Click here for his presentation. I found interesting Rob's comments on slide 13 ("this is not a supply management program") and slide 18 ("the GMP would actually get us CLOSER to real market signals").

The GMP was also discussed at the Northeast Dairy Summit in March. The plan has been analyzed by Cornell University (click here).

NEDLT Meeting

The Northeast Dairy Leadership Team met in Binghamton, NY on June 2-3.

One of the presentations was by Dr. Scott Brown of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri. Dr. Brown presented an analysis of the effect of the CWT program. He estimated that, not counting the CWT herd retirement currently in process, CWT increased the price paid to dairy farmers by an average of approximately $0.66/cwt each year for the period 2004-2008, and he estimated the effect for 2009 to be $0.71/cwt. Some in the audience questioned CWT's continuing effectiveness because markets seem to have adjusted. In other words, the program seems to have a greater effect when it is a surprise. Are farmers stocking up on heifers because they now expect CWT? Click here for Dr. Brown's full presentation.

Another presentation was by Andrei Mikhalevsky of Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy cooperative. Fonterra does business in 140 countries, and so has a good view of world dairy markets. About a year ago, Fonterra launched globalDairyTrade, an Internet-based electronic trading system for commodity dairy products. Currently whole milk powder (WMP) is traded. The Latest Results page shows the results of the latest auction, as well as graphs of WMP prices for the past few years. The surge in world prices in 2007 into early 2008 is obvious. Mr. Mikhalevsky said that Fonterra does not expect world dairy prices to recover before next spring. He also noted that the U.S. and New Zealand would make good partners in the world dairy markets, because their flush seasons come at different times of the year (since one is in the Northern Hemisphere and one is in the Southern Hemisphere). Fonterra sells more than just commodity dairy products; one item that surprised some members of the audience was that Fonterra has developed premium markets in Asia for colostrum. Click here for Mr. Mikhalevsky's full presentation.

Rob Vandenheuvel, General Manager of the Milk Producers Council in Chino, California, spoke to the group about the Growth Management Plan. (Mr. Vandenheuvel was also a presenter at the Northeast Dairy Summit in March.) The GMP deserves a post of its own.

Click here for all of the presentations at the June NEDLT meeting.

Cars for sale

Yankee Farm Credit has a few company cars for sale. For more information on the vehicles, please contact Ruchel at 800-639-3053.

$10,000 - 2006 Honda Element EX-P sport Utility, red, 101,500
$9,500 - 2007 Toyota Camry LE, 4 cyl. 88,900 miles, light blue
$7,500 - 2005 Toyota Camry LE, V6, 99,500 miles,red/maroon

Update
We now have the following auto for sale as well:
$7,000 - 2005 Honda Civic LX, 74,000 miles, black

Need to talk to someone about financial stress?

The current recession is placing a lot of financial stress on everyone. Need someone to talk to? Your Yankee Farm Credit loan officer or financial services representative is a resource, of course. Here are additional resources:

Vermont: A Farmers Hotline is available at 800-281-6977, 800-639-2130 or 800-545-8920. Click here for more information, including additional programs and individuals you can contact. You can also call 211 (click here for info about Vermont 211).

New York: Call NYFarmNet at 800-547-3276. Click here for more information. You can also call 211 (click here for info about New York 211).

New Hampshire: Call 211, sponsored by the United Ways of NH (click here for info about New Hampshire 211).

Dairy Food Drive

The Vermont Foodbank, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Ben & Jerry’s and Cabot, along with Vermont Hannaford, Price Chopper and Shaw’s, have teamed up to coordinate a Dairy Food Drive this summer. The purpose of this drive is to help Vermont families in need get nutritious dairy products during the challenging summer months when children are not in school and to help Vermont’s struggling dairy farmers by moving more dairy products from the market and educating consumers about the importance of dairy in our diets.

There are two ways to help!

During the months of June, July and August, dairy drives will be held at various locations throughout the state. Just show up and purchase an extra gallon of milk, cheese, yogurt or any dairy product that will be collected in refrigerated trucks on site and distributed by the Foodbank to locations where needy families have access to the products.

Visit one of the following locations from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the days listed to donate dairy to the Vermont Foodbank:

Saturday, June 13th
- Milton Hannaford
- St Albans Hannaford and Price Chopper

Saturday, July 11th
- South Burlington, Shelburne Rd Price Chopper
- Williston Hannaford
- Colchester Shaws

Saturday, August 8th
- Brattleboro Hannaford and Price Chopper

You can also donate today online at the Virtual Dairy Food Drive. It’s quick and easy and will get nutritious dairy products to those who need them most.

Click here for more info about Donate Vermont Dairy and the Vermont Foodbank.

(Thanks to Diane Bothfeld at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture for writing the e-mail that became this blog post.)

UPDATE 6/13/09: Added photos from the St. Albans stores this morning. Above is a Monument Farms refrigerated truck at Price Chopper. Sharron Hancock of our St. Albans office was also at Price Chopper buying groceries and making a donation. Below is a Vermont Foodbank refrigerated truck at Hannafords. Standing next to some donated dairy products on the rear lift is Tom Abbiati, Program Director/Food Resources for Vermont Foodbank.

Tom said that the Vermont Agency of Agriculture was doing a news conference at the Milton Hannaford this morning. Darn, I missed it!

Summit on the Future of Vermont

The Council on the Future of Vermont held a "Summit on the Future of Vermont" at UVM's Davis Center on Monday, May 11th. The Council spent 18 months interviewing Vermonters about their "hopes, aspirations and visions for the future of the state." (Yankee's Board of Directors was interviewed in August 2008.) The Council wrote a report summarizing its findings: Imagining Vermont: Values and Vision for the Future. The purpose of the Summit was to present and discuss the report, and provide a platform for the people of Vermont to use the report's findings to move forward.

Each of the 18 individuals on the Council spoke briefly at the Summit about their observations of the project. One of the Council members was Emily Stebbins of UVM's Finance Office. Emily is the daughter of Yankee director Celeste Kane-Stebbins. Emily noted that her mother was in the audience, thus making this a multi-generational event for her family.

One Council member said that she was impressed with the dedication of the people of Vermont to democracy and as evidence she noted the hundreds of people in attendance at the Summit. I had been thinking myself about the composition of the attendees. There were 514 people registered, which I categorized by affiliation as follows: 16% education, 40% nonprofit, 23% government, 14% private for-profit, 7% other or unknown. It seemed to me that the private for-profit sector was under-represented, and the other sectors over-represented.

Several speakers mentioned Vermont's motto: Freedom and Unity. Freedom and unity are often in conflict, of course, and the motto is about seeking the right balance. I heard a lot at the Summit about promoting unity. I didn't hear much about freedom.

Four people represented Yankee at the Summit: Paul Gingue, Celeste Kane-Stebbins, Pam Simek and me.

The Burlington Free Press article about the Summit: Study: Bright Future for Vermont.

UPDATE 6/18/09: The Summit on the Future of Vermont Final Report is now available (8MB PDF file).

43rd Vermont Maple Festival

The Vermont Maple Festival is an annual event that is attended by 1000's of Vermonters and tourists. People gather from all over to celebrate Vermont's finest- Maple Syrup. It is held every year in the St. Albans park and is usually the last weekend in April. Some of the events that are held at the maple festival include a parade w/ the maple king and queen, a youth talent show, local music, the sap run, maple breakfast, etc… Also there are venders set up selling maple treats such as maple cotton candy, sugar on snow, maple creemees and more. They also have a sugarhouse set up in the park that is in use to show people how the process works to make maple syrup. Yankee Farm Credit and Clarence Brown, Inc. sponsored tours to two local sugarhouses: Cody L'esperance in Swanton; and Matt Playful in Fairfield.

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