Summer 2012 Financial Partner Magazine

Summer 2012

FarmCreditEast.com

FINANCIALPARTNER Business Insights for Higher Yields

Facing Up to Facebook Building Business Through Social Media

INSIDE: CEO Letter Cover Story Social Media Photo Contest Payroll Customers News to Share Washington Update Scholarship Recipients Community Support

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CEO’s Message

It Starts with a Conversation Bill Lipinski, CEO, Farm Credit East Farm Credit East is proud of the thousands of business relationships we’ve built with our customers over the years. Each relationship started with a conversation and grew stronger with day-to-day, week-by-week talks about the goals that customers strive to achieve and the business issues they work to overcome.

Our goal for each conversation is to get to know you so we can anticipate your business needs from both a borrowing and financial service perspective. The more we know about you, your business and your goals, the better we’re able to help you be successful.

We are fortunate to work with people like you, who keep us up to date with what’s going on in your businesses. You’ve told us that you need real-time information in order to remain competitive in today’s dynamic business environment.

You’ve told us that you enjoy working with a financial partner like Farm Credit East that has an entire team of experts ready to help sort through the financial aspects of your business with today’s complex business environment in mind.

We listened when you told us that your time is better spent on day-to-day operations than on keeping up with payroll, tax, or financial record-keeping rules, regulations and deadlines. And that turning to experts who are keenly aware of how to apply those rules to your goals lets you get back to what you do best … growing a successful operation.

For you, as well as for us, asking the right questions and listening are equally important. Asking questions, understanding and expressing points of view, pushing back, perhaps disagreeing at times — all are how Farm Credit East customers and our team work together every day.

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Customer conversations are part of our ads We’re so proud of our conversations with customers that we’re showing them off in our new advertising campaign. For example, the ad on this page is of Jason Schwab, of Schwab Dairy Farm in Delevan, N.Y. Here, Jason talks with his payroll adviser, Kate Merrill, remembering why he and his mother, Darla, turned to Farm Credit East for all their payroll processing.

You can learn more about Jason and Darla, as well as about George and Joan Schaefer of Schaefer Gardens in Triangle, N.Y., who are also in our campaign, on page10 of this issue.

Working with farm families and helping you be more successful gives us all a great feeling of accomplishment at Farm Credit East. That’s why our ads celebrate our conversations with you.

Cover Story

Facing Up to Facebook Building Business Through Social Media What could be a more social business than agricultural retail? Meeting and greeting, answering questions, talking up fresh local products — these are the personal touches that make ag retailers successful.

No surprise that many agricultural retail business owners have turned to social media to drive more customers to their farm gate.

And it’s working.

Names like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are as much a part of their marketing strategy today as newspaper ads, radio spots and billboards have been for years.

With interest in this topic growing among our customers, we recently invited four business owners from various parts of the country to stop by our Farm Credit East Coffee Shop. They shared stories about how they got started in social media and how they use it to drive business through their front doors. During the conversation, they added a few tried-and-true tips to help others get comfortable with these online marketing tools.

While the participants brought their own unique experiences to our coffee shop talk, they also found parallels in their social media ventures. The four were: Jerel Frey, of Frey’s Greenhouse in Lebanon, Pa.; Christiana Jones, of Jones Family Farms in Shelton, Conn.; Michele Payn-Knoper, of Cause Matters, Corp. in Lebanon, Ind.; and Stephanie Schilter, of Schilter Family Farm in Olympia, Wash. continued on next page Financial Partner

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Summer 2012

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Cover Story According to Christiana, adding social media is a natural step for ag retail business owners. “Today’s production agriculture is relevant because business owners diversify their strategy in order to focus on satisfying consumer demands,” she said. “In retail marketing, we need to apply that same approach to interacting with today’s market-savvy consumers.”

Why use social media Marketing with social media tools is about developing consumer relationships in a medium that is highly personal.

Ag business owners use their websites for general information about their operations and turn to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to motivate customers by posting photos of ripe, delicious, just-picked produce or videos of families enjoying on-farm festivals, wine tastings or U-pick days. In addition, they converse on topics of current interest to their markets, such as where their food comes from and how it’s grown.

These tools help business owners develop and nurture their own unique community of customers. “Social media has a human component. It may be technology, but it boils down to building relationships,” Michele said.

Stephanie agreed. “Even in our down seasons, we keep conversations going with our marketplace. Telling stories about what goes on behind the scenes keeps connections fresh, no matter the season. Facebook, which is a large portion of our marketing and advertising strategy, lets our market know us personally through postings of farm events, photos showing off our work and stories about what we do.”

Christiana added to the conversation by saying, “Social media is our online conversation with customers. When

Michele Payn-Knoper neighbors stop me in the grocery store to ask how a stretch of weather affected our crop, we add that conversation to our blog. It gives our customers a glimpse into behind-thescenes agriculture and helps build our Jones Family Farms community.”

Getting started Many are interested in social media, but may be overwhelmed at first. That’s why Stephanie and Jerel worked with marketing consultants to create their social media strategy. And why Christiana engaged her farm’s marketing director.

Stephanie said, “I started our Facebook page on my own, because I saw the momentum building around it and wanted to get involved. We hired a Web designer to update our website and develop a marketing strategy to help us use our Facebook, website and blog more effectively.”

Jerel also used a professional. “I worked with an advertising consultant to learn how to spend our advertising dollars costeffectively. Facebook is our favorite form of advertising because it is personal and immediate and provides a solid response rate for us. Its interactive aspect lets me answer people’s questions and learn what’s important to them on any given day.”

Some business owners shy away from using social media.

“To address their concerns of time and privacy, I ask people to

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Christiana Jones

Cover Story spend 15 minutes a day on social media,” Michele said. “When just starting, you can learn a lot in that time. You can become comfortable with the technology or reply to people, post pictures or add a video.”

Running a busy operation can challenge the time needed to respond to customer questions. While Jerel is able to keep up by spending 10 to 15 minutes a day on it, Christiana turns that job over to her marketing manager.

“Monitoring requires someone to be online frequently, which can be challenging when you’re involved in the farm or have young children like I do,” Christiana said. “I suggest that one person set the tone and content of postings to maintain a clear unified farm identity. If the farmer is not interested in handling social media, perhaps a friend, family member or employee — who is familiar with the farm and is social media savvy — can assist with that aspect of your marketing efforts.”

Stephanie stressed the importance of responding to customer inquiries. “Social media becomes ineffective if followers don’t get responses. For example, after we changed our pricing structure, a customer posted an angry complaint on our Facebook page.

“I want customers to know that we care about what they have to say, even if it’s not what we want to hear. So I responded with our reasons for the change. To our surprise, a number of followers also responded with what they like about our farm. This defused the situation, and the original writer replied with her thanks. She also added that her family would be back. Social media turned a negative situation into a positive one.”

Stephanie Schilter

continued on next page

Gloria, Les and Jerel Frey

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Jerel Frey

Member of Farm Credit East

Farm: Frey’s Greenhouse Location: Lebanon, Pa. Web: Facebook.com/FreysGreenhouse Operation: Jerel co-owns Frey’s Greenhouse with his parents. The Freys own a retail greenhouse and garden center selling annuals, perennials and shrubs, and they grow about 90 percent of their products.

Farm: Jones Family Farms Location: Shelton, Conn.

Web: Facebook.com/JonesFamilyFarms Business: Christiana co-owns the family farm with her husband, Jamie, and his parents. Jamie is the sixth generation to manage the farm. The family farm includes a winery, harvest-your-own strawberries and blueberries, pumpkins and cut-your-own Christmas trees. Just 80 miles from Times Square in New York City, this 400-acre operation is a destination farm, particularly for the Christmas tree season in the tri-state area (Connecticut, New York and New Jersey).

Michele Payn-Knoper

Stephanie Schilter

Farm: Michele and her husband cash rent land and raise Registered Holsteins. Her husband is a ruminant nutritionist.

Location: Lebanon, Ind. Web: Facebook.com/CauseMatters and also CauseMatters.com Business: Michele’s business name is Cause Matters, Corp. A professional speaker, Michele says her business goal is to give a voice to the people who feed the world through conversations around the food plate.

She travels the country making motivational keynotes and also leads ag advocacy (or “agvocacy”) and social media training.

Farm: Schilter Family Farm Location: Olympia, Wash.

Web: Facebook.com/SchilterFamilyFarm Business: Stephanie and her husband, Jeff, co-own their all-season farm, farm market and agritourism business. The family grows and direct markets hanging baskets, bedding plants, perennials, annuals, berries, row crops and cut-your-own Christmas trees. They also run a harvest festival, pumpkin patch and corn maze as well as school tours, and they rent their venue for weddings and parties.

Member of Farm Credit MidAmerica

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Christiana Jones

Member of MidAtlantic Farm Credit

Member of Northwest Farm Credit Services

Cover Story

Facebook improves sales The members of the round table have increased sales through social media because they live by tried-and-true marketing principles. First they start with quality products and customer service. They share messages that interest their followers, and they have the sales know-how to effectively convert visitors to customers.

In addition, social media for them is just one of many tools to accomplish their goals and open new markets.

It’s an inexpensive way to market the freshest of products moments after picking or as blooms open. And it involves a limited investment of time after an initial learning curve.

“It is another channel for us to tell our market what’s going on here, but we don’t rely on it,” Christiana says. “We do print advertising and have a detailed website for in-depth information. We just broke the 11,000 mark recently on our Facebook page, but we are more interested in the number of followers who are actively engaged, which Facebook also provides. For example, when we post that we have open spots in our cooking classes, we are pleased to see an uptick in class enrollment.”

The members of the round table design their promotions with the end goal in mind. With all elements in their proper place, social media produces results.

Jerel said, “We chose Facebook over other forms of social media because we are in the business of selling visual enhancements for homes and businesses. I post photos of plants in bloom two or three times each week. Photos show Facebook followers what’s ready for them to buy. I spend about 10 minutes each day posting and responding to people’s questions, and I increase my posting frequency for special events.”

Success stories Michele considers the AgChat Foundation, which she founded with other farmers, to be her greatest success story.

“This was an outcome of weekly conversations on Twitter called AgChat and FoodChat, which started 15,000 people from 15 countries talking.

“The AgChat Foundation equips farmers and advocates with the ability to let the nonfarm community glimpse inside farm life through social media. It also gets more people in agriculture talking about who we are and what we do, which puts a face on farming. If we want to protect our right to farm as we see fit, our voice needs to be in the conversation. The numbers show that social media is a huge part of the conversation. Agriculture is being talked about whether we are there or not. It is a matter of whether we want to offer our perspective to the conversation.”

Other success stories include Jerel’s “guess-the-plant” contest, which generally draws more than 40 responses, half of which come in within two hours of posting. Through this contest, he brings customers through his door to pick up their prize of a $25 gift certificate.

And Stephanie’s Farm Friday coupons have been an equal hit. Her advice is, “Be consistent and post the same time each week so people know when to look for your coupons.

This takes discipline to make it work, but the results are worth it.”

Tips for setting your

social media strategy In her training programs on social media, Michele asks participants to consider three points when creating their social media strategy: 1. Know your purpose.

“My business purpose is to inform, incite and inspire conversation about food and farming.”

2. Build a community around your purpose.

“I started AgChat on Twitter to get agriculture working together and to see if we were interested in discussing the same ag-related topics.”

3. Serve your community well.

“Consumers want real conversations with farmers about where their food comes from. Sometimes they ask questions and sometimes they complain.

If you can provide answers along with insight into your farm, you can win them over.”

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A Quick Guide to Social Media Facebook.com

Twitter.com

Business owners use Facebook to connect with customers and prospects, share ideas, answer questions and promote products. Businesses can build a community on Facebook for their customers to visit and stay up to date with the happenings of the business through posts, photos, events or “sneak peaks” of upcoming products and promotions.

Twitter connects businesses to customers in real time.

Businesses can use Twitter to share information with customers, build relationships with customers and prospects, and gather real-time market intelligence and feedback about what customers are saying about their business and industry.

Statistics • 526 million daily active users • On average, Facebook users generate 3.2 billion “likes” and “comments” and upload more than 300 million photos every day Common terms • News feed: An ongoing list on your Facebook home page that shows the most up-to-date posts from the pages you follow. A page’s news feed can only be seen by the administrator of that page.

• Page vs. profile: Pages are for businesses to connect with people on Facebook, while profiles are for individual users to connect with other individuals. Users “like” pages but “friend” profiles. Pages are managed by page administrators, and profiles are maintained by the individual user.

• Wall: This is where a business can post photos, links and other updates to share with those who “like” their page. Other users can then comment on or “like” posts, or they can post their own pictures and comments to the page’s wall.

Analytics • Like: Users can “like” a business page to receive updates in their news feed from that page. A user or business can also “like” another user’s Facebook post to signify support or interest in a topic.

• Talking about this: This number indicates the number of unique users who have created a story from your page post. A story is created when someone “likes” or comments on a post. A page administrator will see this number alongside their number of “likes.”

• Reach: This number indicates the number of unique users who could have potentially seen a post, either by visiting your page, seeing it in their news feed or seeing it after another user has “talked about it.”

Facebook.com/Facebook, 2012

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Statistics • More than 140 million active users (2012) generating more than 340 million tweets per day Common terms • @: The @ symbol is used to call out usernames in tweets. When a username is preceded by the @ symbol, it becomes a link to that user’s profile.

• Follow: You “follow” other Twitter users, which is similar to subscribing to their tweets to stay up to date with their conversations.

• Handle: This is the username a user has selected and the accompanying URL for the user’s Twitter account.

• Hashtag (#): Used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. Place the # symbol before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) to categorize that tweet, making a tweet more easily searchable.

• Tweet: A piece of information, limited to 140 characters, that users post to their Twitter profile to share with others.

Business.Twitter.com

Agricultural Views

2013 Photo Calendar

Contest

Upload your best shots to our website by July 31 It’s time to dust off your digital cameras and take some of your best shots. Or to go to your photo library for your best winter, spring or fall photos. We hope you will continue to amaze us with your ability to capture a picture-perfect moment around the farm, forest, greenhouse or docks.

Winning photos will be featured in our 2013 calendar and on our website. We select two very different types of entries:

• First, we look for photos that show off the best of Northeast farming, horticulture, forestry and commercial fishing. We are particularly fond of action shots.

• And, second, we are equally interested in photos that celebrate country life.

By the way, we wonder where the commercial fishing and timber industry shutterbugs are hiding. By uploading your best shots to our website, you will help us celebrate your unique industries.

The rules

• Photo taken in New England, New York or New Jersey • Images of 1 mg or more • No negatives, printed photos or links to Web libraries • Photos must have horizontal orientation • Images become the property of Farm Credit East; no images will be returned.

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Summer 2012

Two ways to enter

• On the Web: FarmCreditEast.com/news-and-events • Send CD with the entry form insert in this issue to: Photo Contest, Farm Credit East, 240 South Road, Enfield, CT 06082-4451 Winning photos

14 photos will be selected for a $100 cash prize each.

Timeline

Submission deadline: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 Winners will be contacted by: Friday, October 19, 2012 Need creative inspiration?

See FarmCreditEast.com/news-and-events

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How Well Do You Keep Up with

Payroll Rules and Regulations?

Have you been spending too much time on payroll? Is keeping up with all the rules and regulations overwhelming?

That’s exactly how two New York families used to feel before they asked Farm Credit East to help. Now we process their payroll for them — and deliver checks and payroll reports — accurately and on time. These families tell us they are much happier focusing on making a living rather than on payroll processing and reporting.

We’re Busy Enough Delevan, N.Y., farmers focus on producing milk, and leave payroll processing to Farm Credit Chances are, milking 800 cows, raising 700 heifers, farming 2,000 acres and building a new gravel business as a side enterprise keep Jason Schwab and his mother, Darla Schwab, busy enough.

Jason and Darla came to that conclusion many years ago.

As owners and managers of Schwab Dairy Farm in Delevan, N.Y., the team focuses on three-times-a-day milkings and producing an impressive 26,000-pound herd average. After all, that’s the work that they are good at and perhaps were born to do.

And that’s the work that keeps them busy from dawn to who knows when.

Darla and Jason Schwab, of Schwab Dairy Farm in Delevan, N.Y.

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About processing the farm’s payroll, Darla said, “It’s a job that I don’t want to think about, which is why we have Farm Credit East take care of it for us. I used to prepare our payroll when we had three employees and three partners. And even then, I found that keeping up with ever-changing rules, regulations and forms was more than challenging.

“Now, with 20 people on our payroll, it is to our advantage to have Farm Credit take the worry out of payroll processing for us so we can focus on what matters most to us — producing milk and growing crops.”

Jason agreed. “Running the farm and keeping our expenses under control require our complete focus. The farm’s income and expenses are too important to us. Trying to do a job like preparing our payroll could put us at financial risk. That is, we

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Summer 2012

could be hit with a huge penalty if we made a mistake or were just one day or two days late submitting our payroll tax.”

Now the family faxes a summary of hours every pay period to their Farm Credit East office and receives their hourly employees’ payroll checks the following day.

“The checks are never late,” Jason said. “Farm Credit also prepares all of our payroll reports for us. And if we are ever audited, we’d send the information to them. We wouldn’t need to deal with it, because they would take care of it for us.

“In addition, as our business grew, we began to offer a retirement plan for employees, and Farm Credit manages those deductions for us. They cut a check for the amount that we submit to our retirement plan manager, along with a spreadsheet listing each employee’s deposit amount and our matching amount. It works very nicely.

“Recently, we asked Farm Credit to provide a summary of our labor expenses for each area of our business, such as for crops, shop, dairy and maintenance. It is nice to be able to make one phone call and get a special report like this the following day. This new report lets us see what we spend on labor for each category, which is very helpful.”

Darla and Jason agree on the benefits. “Just the efficiencies and the payroll paperwork that Farm Credit East takes care of for us make our lives easier,” Darla said.

Rather Be in the Greenhouse The Schaefers prefer to focus on growing healthy plants than on payroll regulations George and Joan Schaefer and their daughter, Vicki, own Schaefer’s Gardens in Triangle, N.Y., about one hour from Syracuse. Besides running a busy wholesale operation that supplies specialty crops to professional landscapers, foundations and universities, the family is always on the lookout for original marketing, green and product initiatives for their business.

For example, they recently expanded their customer base to community groups interested in creative fund raisers, such as selling hanging baskets for Mother’s Day. They added the Proven Winners® brand of garden plants to their product lineup and use environmentally friendly products, such as rice, wheat or other compostable pots, that catch the attention of today’s savvy business owners.

In short, the Schaefers were already busy enough keeping up with day-to-day operations while also testing the viability of new initiatives.

HOW WELL DO YOU KEEP UP WITH PAYROLL RULES & REGULATIONS? Whether you have one employee or many, payroll is complicated and time consuming. Plus, penalties can be stiff if you miss deadlines or misunderstand changing federal or state regulations.

Find out how well you keep up with the rules. Have a Farm Credit East agricultural payroll expert review your needs and make recommendations.

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Summer 2012

Joan and George Schaefer and their daughter, Vicki, owners of Schaefer’s Gardens in Triangle, N.Y.

According to Joan, “As the business grew, the payroll grew and so did the problems. I struggled to stay current with changing requirements and employee-specific details. It took too much time to figure it out, especially during planting season when our payroll grows from three full-time employees to an additional 15 part-time employees, each with their own unique deductions and hours.

“I’d rather be in the greenhouse than figuring out payroll rules and regulations. Having Farm Credit take over our processing was a no-brainer for us.”

George agreed. “We prefer to concentrate on running our business instead of mastering payroll,” he said. “That really is the bottom line.”

“We sing the praises of Barb Seamans and Farm Credit East,” Joan added. “We get our payroll on time, every time with no problems, which is important to us because our employees are important. They want to be paid on time and for their pay to be accurate. I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I know that Barb has every detail under control for us.”

FULL RANGE OF PAYROLL SERVICES Farm Credit East offers a full range of payroll services to fit each individual customer’s needs. Log on to FarmCreditEast.com/payroll to hear from Anna Supp, a Farm Credit East farm accounting officer, as she explains the payroll services that Farm Credit East offers to agricultural businesses.

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NEWS to Share

Breaking Ag News and Weather

Let’s Go to the Movies

Now on FarmCreditEast.com Home Page

Video Insights Now on Our Website

Visitors to FarmCreditEast.com can now find up-to-the-minute agriculture, commodity market data and weather for any zip code, right from our home page.

Our website now offers a series of two-minute videos on how agricultural, commercial fishing and forest products businesses use our loans and financial services to strengthen their businesses.

Seasoned Farm Credit East employees share their insights against a backdrop of some of the most beautiful and productive acres in the United States … found right in our own back 40s!

Called Data Transmission Network, or DTN, this service provides the most current news, market information, crop quotes and weather available. Go to FarmCreditEast.com to visit our site, explore these new features and access this information, including: • Ag Markets – Future Quotes • Weather • Market & Ag News This information changes frequently, so be sure to check back regularly to stay up to date!

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So grab a bowl of popcorn and …

• Learn more about Farm Credit East, our services and cooperative structure from CEO Bill Lipinski.

• Hear Jan Bitter, branch manager of our Cortland, N.Y., office, explain how our style of relationship lending helps us help our customers be more successful.

• Get answers to the question of what business consulting is all about from Steve Makarevich.

• Catch Anna Supp explaining how we help ag business owners negotiate the complex tax rules that surround payroll issues and how we tailor our services to fit each customer’s business.

• Learn the benefits of benchmarking for ag retail businesses and how to get involved in the Agricultural Retail Benchmarks program from Erin Pirro.

• Hear Gregg McConnell explain the benefits of the Winery Benchmarks and how businesses can participate in this valuable program.

In addition, in a slightly longer video, you can sit in as Bill Lipinski and Jim Putnam discuss their outlook for northeastern agriculture in 2012.

Financial Impact of CAFO on Dairy Farm Expansion Farm Credit East, in conjunction with Cornell Pro-Dairy, released a report that looked at the financial impact of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) regulations on New York state dairy farm expansions.

Based on the financial implications of a hypothetical family dairy farm that expands from 190 to 290 cows, the report found that the state’s CAFO permit threshold is a factor affecting growth of the New York herd. CAFO requires significant investment when a farm reaches 200 cows. The report examined the financial impact of expansion from 190 to 290 cows both with and without the added expense of New York CAFO compliance.

The report showed that the added capital and operational costs of CAFO regulations make expansion difficult for a typical 290-cow New York farm.

The full study, Financial Implications of a Dairy Farm Expansion, is available on FarmCreditEast.com.

Update

WASHINGTON

Robert A. Smith, senior vice president for public affairs

Agriculture and the “Fiscal Cliff” A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report used the term “fiscal cliff ” to describe the changes in tax laws and spending programs that will occur on January 1, 2013.

The term is being used to describe the impact of increased taxes and spending cuts that will occur if there is no congressional action before 2013. With major tax increases and spending cuts, the deficit would actually be reduced by $560 billion, but the CBO warns that the shock of higher taxes and less spending would push us back into a recession.

To get a handle on this, let’s take a look at the current federal budget and deficit:

2011 Federal Budget Numbers Outlays

$3.6 trillion

Revenues

$2.3 trillion

Deficit

$1.3 trillion

2011 deficit as a percentage of GDP is 8.7% Total debt as a percentage of GDP is 67.7% What happens if Congress does nothing?

• The so-called Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 that were extended in 2010 — will expire along with alternative minimum tax (AMT) and higher estate tax exemptions.

The expiration of these tax reductions would increase federal revenues by $221 billion annually.

• The 2 percent cut in payroll taxes that helped stimulate the economy in 2011 and 2012 will expire. This will increase revenues by $95 billion.

• A host of other tax provisions, such as partial expensing of depreciable investments, will expire. This would increase revenues by $65 billion.

• The Budget Control Act, put in place when the debt ceiling was increased in August 2011, reduces federal spending in various programs. This cuts spending by $65 billion.

• Special extension of unemployment benefits through December 2012 will expire. This reduces spending by $26 billion.

In the end, political pressures will play a role, and it is unlikely that Congress will allow all the tax provisions to expire or all of the spending cuts to be fully implemented.

However, it would be unfortunate not to begin to address the deficit problem at this point.

By extending all current policies (tax and spending), the federal debt will reach 93 percent of GDP by 2022.

Under this scenario, CBO warns: • Rising debt would cause a growing portion of people’s savings to purchase government debt rather than to finance investments in productive capital. (GDP would be 2.5 percent less because of the crowding out of capital investment.)

• Growing debt would increase the likelihood of a sudden fiscal crisis during which investors would lose confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget.

Agriculture is not immune from the fiscal cliff — if the estate tax exemption goes back to $1 million, far more farms will be negatively impacted, the expiration of the tax provisions will result in higher overall taxes for farm businesses, and on the spending side we will likely see deeper cuts to farm programs than are currently anticipated in a new Farm Bill. And of course, on the flip side of the budget coin, all of us will face other problems in the future if we don’t begin to address the deficit problem.

For the CBO report, see cbo.gov/publication/43262.

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Meet Our 28 Scholarship Winners!

Each Earned $1,500 Toward Higher Education Farm Credit East congratulates our 28 scholarship winners, all aspiring to make a difference in their agricultural communities. This year, students earned a collective $42,000 in scholarships to help them on their way to becoming the Northeast’s future leaders.

Our “Investing in Farm Credit East’s Future” scholarship supports students with a diversity of agricultural career aspirations and farm backgrounds from across our six-state territory. Congratulations to these deserving students and best wishes for a successful educational experience.

Batavia, N.Y.

Jacob Dueppengiesser

Perry, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Dairy farm owner/manager

Betsey McKenna

Albion, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal and agricultural science Career path: Dairy consultant

Emilie Mulligan

Mannington, N.J. Cornell University Major: Agricultural sciences Career path: Farm owner/manager

Sarah Hamner

Jobstown, N.J. South Dakota State University Major: Agricultural education Career path: Agricultural educator

Burrville, N.Y.

Avon, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Dairy farm owner/manager

John Allen

Bedford, N.H.

Ryan Willits

Nathaniel Kimball-Barr

Hopkinton, N.H. UNH Thompson School of Applied Science Major: Integrated agricultural business management Career path: Family farm owner/manager

Josiah Robertson

Belleville, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Agricultural business Career path: Business operator

Copenhagen, N.Y. Morrisville State College Major: Agricultural science and education Career path: Agricultural education

Claverack, N.Y.

Contoocook, N.H. University of New Hampshire Major: Integrated agriculture Career path: Farm owner/manager

Alixandra Borgert

Bridgeton, N.J

Dalton Jacquier

Desiree Clark

Alloway, N.J. Cumberland County College Major: Agricultural business Career path: Farm owner

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Nicholas Culver

East Canaan, Conn.

University of Findlay Major: Pre-vet/animal science and biology Career path: Veterinarian

East Canaan, Conn.

SUNY Cobleskill Major: Agricultural engineering Career path: Farm owner/manager

Victor Salazar

Geneva, N.Y.

New Hartford, Conn.

Clemson University Major: Agricultural education Career path: Agricultural public policy

Chelsea Van Acker

Cobleskill, N.Y.

Hornell, N.Y.

Williamson, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Plant science/agricultural science Career path: Agricultural consulting

William Chandler

Casey Arlig

Delanson, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Large animal veterinarian

Friendship, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Dairy nutritionist

Cortland, N.Y.

Mayville, N.Y.

Chelsea Jones

Christian Deakin

Little York, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Agricultural communications

Portland, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Viticulture and enology Career path: Wine maker/researcher

Abigail Teeter

Middleboro, Mass.

Ithaca, N.Y. SUNY Cobleskill Major: Agricultural business Career path: Agricultural communications

Adam Marazzi

Dayville, Conn.

Middletown, N.Y.

Nate Baribault

Levi Gibbs

Kelia Cutkelvin

Potsdam, N.Y.

Amston, Conn.

North Carolina State University Major: Animal science Career path: Large animal veterinarian

Walpole, Mass.

Delaware Valley College Major: Livestock management/agribusiness Career path: Farm manager/owner

Andover, N.J. Morrisville State College Major: Diesel technology Career path: Farm owner/manager

Milford, Mass.

Randolph College Major: Biology/pre-veterinary Career path: Equine veterinarian

Kristin King

Enfield, Conn.

Riverhead, N.Y.

Waddington, N.Y. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Dairy nutritionist or consultant

Heather Hunt

Kaitlyn Anderson

Orange, Mass.

Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Dairy industry

Manorville, N.Y Cornell University Major: Agricultural science Career path: Greenhouse manager

Flemington, N.J.

Sangerfield, N.Y.

Charlie Hoffman

Hillsborough, N.J. Cornell University Major: Animal science Career path: Large animal veterinarian

Stacy Collins

Ilion, N.Y. SUNY Cobleskill Major: Dairy science Career path: Dairy nutritionist

To be a candidate for a 2013 Farm Credit East scholarship, contact your local branch office. An application will be on our website in January 2013: FarmCreditEast.com.

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FINANCIAL PARTNER is for the customers, employees and friends of Farm Credit East. Farm Credit East is a farmer-owned lending cooperative serving the farm, commercial fishing and forest products businesses in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. Part of the national Farm Credit System, Farm Credit East is a full-service lender dedicated to the growth and prosperity of agriculture.

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Farm Credit East 240 South Road Enfield, CT 06082-4451

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Address Service Requested

HOW TO REACH US: Whether you want to praise us, complain, ask our advice or just let us know what’s on your mind, we’d like to hear from you. WRITE: Karen Murphy, Editor, Farm Credit East, 240 South Road, Enfield, CT 06082-4451. CALL: 860.741.4380.

E-MAIL: karen.murphy@farmcrediteast.com.

Copyright © 2012 by Farm Credit East, ACA. All rights reserved. Farm Credit East is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.

FINANCIAL PARTNER is printed on recycled paper.

Community

Support AgEnhancement Grant Encourages Development of Youth in Ag Careers Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Program recently awarded a $4,000 grant to Questar III Boces to support the Tech Valley Entrepreneurial Agriculture Youth Initiative’s innovative summer camp. This grant will help give Hudson Valley students the opportunity to learn what goes into being a successful agricultural entrepreneur during this summer’s weeklong “Home Grown Business Challenge.”

The goal of the challenge is to foster the development of young entrepreneurs in agriculture and build interest in agricultural employment opportunities. Students will learn about emerging career opportunities within the agriculture industry when they visit successful value-added businesses that support local farms.

Kelly Ann Radzik, resource extension educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Green counties, said the program “will help students understand the reality of farming and the diversity of careers within the industry.”

The week will culminate with teams of students developing a product or service that could generate additional revenue for a farm and pitching their idea to a panel of real-life venture capitalists. For more information on the Home Grown Business Challenge visit www.questar.org/summercamp.

Bob Smith from Farm Credit East presents a $4,000 Northeast AgEnhancement grant to Michael Laster, Greenville High School principal, and Sandra Gardner, director of instruction and staff development at Taconic Hills Central School District.

For details • Bob Smith: 800.327.6588 • Email proposals to: AgEnhancement@FarmCreditEast.com • Proposal deadlines: April 1, August 1 and December 1 • FarmCreditEast.com/Industry-Support.aspx

AgEnhancement Grants Since 1996 Total grant dollars: Total projects supported:

$1.32 million 496