Cooperative Notes Northeast Cooperative Council

Information Education Collaboration

VOLUME 32—ISSUE 1—WINTER

The NECC Leaders Forum provides a means for leaders of agricultural cooperatives, Farm Credit Associations and business advisors to come together to develop leadership skills and consider the challenges and opportunities when doing business in this unique part of the world.

A characteristic of a great leader is that of continuous learning. Lee Rubin, Lee Rubin Speaks, will be the keynote for the event. He has provided extensive training to companies such as Met-Life, T-Mobile, Johnson & Johnson, Rutgers Universi-ty, and The Pennsylvania State University. He helps companies move groups composed of talented individuals into a team whose performance is greater than the sum of the parts. He is also the featured speaker at the Upcoming Leaders Break-fast prior to the Leaders Forum.

Mary Nowak, Director of Government Affairs, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives will provide an overview of how federal agencies impacting the farm and food sector are functioning, insights learned over the past year, and shed light on new ways in which businesses can best intersect with Congressional and agency leaders.

We’ve all heard about how a new business in a given area will gener-ate jobs and impact the economy or the loss of a manufacturing plant will impact a community. Todd Schmit, Associate Professor and Fred Tamarkin, Hunter Rawlings III Presidential Research Scholar at Cornell University took up the challenge to measure the economic impact of agricultural cooperatives, Farm Credit Associations and rural electric cooperatives doing business within New York State. They examined patronage refunds returned to cooperative members. Tamarkin will report on their findings.

Jim Kelly, Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Buffalo Bills Quarterback presented by CoBank will be speaking at the evening banquet. Eight times during his career he passed more than 3,000 yards in a season and 26 times he passed more than 300 yards in a game. In 17 playoff game appearances, including 4 consecutive Super Bowls, he passed nearly 3,900 yards with 21 touchdowns.

Headliners for the CoBank Northeast Customer meeting include Tom Halverson, President and Chief Executive Officer. He is responsible for implementing CoBank’s strategic business direction as set by the Board of Directors. Susan O’Malley will speak to the W.I.N. Theory. She became the first president of a professional sports franchise when she took the helm of Washington Sports Entertainment, which runs the NBA’S Washington Bullets (now Wizards). Perennial favorite, Marci Rossell, Economist, will weave complex present day complex financial issues in a way relevant to people’s lives.

TIME’S RUNNING OUT….REGISTER NOW!!

68th Northeast Cooperative Council’s Annual Meeting and Leaders Forum “Leading the Cooperative Economy”

February 28, 2018—March 1, 2018 Albany Marriott, 189 Wolf Rd. Albany, NY

(In conjunction with the CoBank Northeast Customer Meeting)

Item CT MA ME NH NYS PA VT Total

Fish 95.73 5.65 101.76

Fruits & Vegetables 243.96 3.79 0.06 199.03 404.06 2.81 853.71

Grain & Oilseeds 303.48 0.20 2.05 305.73

Milk 84.08 48.33 71.88 42.86 2,858.07 1,325.11 520.61 4,950.94

Other marketing 1.79 153.48 1.38 1.54 41.38 11.20 2.06 212.45

Total marketing 389.35 445.77 172.98 50.11 3,098.48 1,742.42 525.48 6,424.59

Crop inputs 2.66 17.44 5.36 0.50 82.41 169.53 5.44 283.34

Petroleum & other

supplies 15.18 7.53 24.14 0.44 54.75 45.40 7.05 154.49

Total farm supplies 26.17 40.82 38.48 6.89 279.53 375.52 48.07 815.48

Total marketing &

supplies 415.52 486.59 211.47 57.00 3,378.00 2,117.94 573.56 7,240.08

Service receipts &

other income 0.17 6.82 0.21 0.08 10.53 6.17 12.89 36.87

Gross business

volume 415.68 493.41 211.67 57.08 3,388.54 2,124.11 586.45 7,276.95

Business between

cooperatives 6.68 211.51 5.30 1.97 141.39 268.08 9.48 644.42

Net business volume 409.00 281.91 206.37 55.11 3,247.15 1,856.03 576.97 6,632.53

NORTHEAST AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE BUSINESS VOLUME—2016 ($millions)

(Source: USDA, Rural Development, Cooperative Services, James Wadsworth)

Number of Cooperatives and Memberships by

State

State Cooperatives Memberships

Massachusetts 14 4,226

New York 62 7,337

Pennsylvania 47 8,328

Connecticut (z) 12 252

New Hampshire (z) 9 177

Vermont (z) 8 936

Estimated total memberships is 21,257

Source: J. Wadsworth, et.al. USDA Rural Development

“Nationwide, total gross ag co-op business volume dropped by 9.9

percent in 2016 while net income dropped just 2 percent. Return on

assets and member equity in 2016 were 8.5 and 29 percent, respec-

tively, just slightly below 2015 levels. The combined balance sheet

for the nation’s ag co-ops remained strong, with record assets of $92

billion and record member equity of $40.9 billion. This reflects an

increase of $3.8 billion (4.3 percent) in assets and $385 million in

members’ equity. Total liabilities increased to $51.2 billion in 2016,

up from $47.7 billion in 2015. Retained earnings also increased

slightly, from $16.3 billion in 2015 to $16.9 billion in 2016. Net sales

of dairy increased from $38.3 billion to $38.6 billion while net sales of

all fruit and vegetables were $5.9 billion, slightly higher in 2016 than

in 2015.” Source: James Wadsworth, et.al. Rural Cooperatives,

USDA Rural Cooperatives, Vol. 84 No. 6. pg. 18-19.