I’m writing this article in March, and just filed my son’s and daughter-in-law’s tax returns. My last ones for this year. Between my wife’s and my tax returns, our three adult kids’, my brother and sister-in-law’s, nephew’s and mother-in-law’s returns, I did seven federal and state returns each this year.
A typical year for this old “accounting geek” but the preparation time still kills a couple of weekends. Just to clarify, I only do easy returns. My dad and my stepfather are not big fans of mine this time of year, however, because I don’t do their returns. My dad has a small farm in Missouri and requires a Schedule F. My stepfather is an optometrist and has a small business. Both returns are much more complicated than I want to work on. As a result, I don’t complete their returns, and they need to have them “professionally” completed. If my dad lived in Michigan, I’m sure he would utilize Greenstone’s Tax and Accounting services. My stepfather has used the same accounting firm for probably 25 years, but inquired if I might be up to the task this year. I wasn’t.
It’s this time of year that I’m sure GreenStone’s 6,000 tax and accounting customers appreciate the services we offer. I was an accounting major and had my CPA license for a long time, but I was never a tax expert, and I am certainly not one now. There is tremendous value to have your taxes professionally completed by real experts! If you didn’t utilize our tax and accounting professionals this year, you should consider it. I know I am, even for my family’s “easy” returns!
Financial Results and Patronage
GreenStone’s 2023 Annual Report was just released. By the time you read this, you should have received your copy or notice that it is available. 2023 was another outstanding year for your association. The following chart summarizes some key results for the year:
2023 2022
Net income (in millions) $284,993 $284,639
Loan Growth 7.7% 9.7%
Adverse Loans 1.90% 1.46%
Customer Satisfaction 96% 95%
Our finance and marketing teams did another tremendous job preparing the annual report. Our entire GreenStone team worked together to produce another tremendous year, putting our Customers First and generating outstanding financial results.
Tuesday, March 12th, we celebrated another Patronage Day! Those financial results we just discussed allowed us to pay $120 million again in cash Patronage to our customer-owners. Over the last 19 years we have returned $960 million in these dividends. This year’s payment equated to an average refund of 1.15% of the average member’s borrowings. I always look forward to spending time at a number of offices on Patronage Day. The best parts of my job are spending time with my teammates and customers. Our branches do a great job celebrating Patronage Day. In addition to snacks or lunch, it always includes lots of smiles and checks for our owners!
Quick Hitters
Over the last three months, I have been lucky enough to attend a number of events that included our customers, GreenStone teammates, Farm Credit System members and future customers. I thought I would give a brief summary of some of those meetings and events.
- Connect Receptions - GreenStone hosted Connect Receptions at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable, and Farm Market Expo, the Great Lakes Crop Summit and the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference. These were great opportunities for my teammates and I to show our appreciation to some of our customers.
- CultivateGrowth Conference - GreenStone hosted our second CultivateGrowth Conference, providing educational and networking opportunities for approximately 80 young, beginning and small farm customers.
- Michigan FFA State Convention - I am a proud board member of the Michigan FFA Association. This year I was lucky enough to judge the state finals of the demonstration contest. I continue to be so impressed by the young people that go through FFA. I would love to hire every state FFA officer at GreenStone. The organization does a great job in developing the leadership skills that every business needs today.
- GreenStone’s Circle of Excellence Banquet - This internal event again celebrated our top performing sales and support staff for 2023.
- Farm Credit Annual Meeting - This meeting was held in Washington, DC and highlighted the importance of Farm Credit throughout the country. It also highlighted the importance of Farm Credit relationships with Congress and other leaders in our nation’s capital. Farm Credit is very strong and healthy today and we need it to stay that way for our rural communities and farmers.
- AgriBank Annual Meeting - AgriBank is one of four Farm Credit banks in the country. GreenStone borrows the money we lend to our members from AgriBank. It lends money to GreenStone and 10 other Farm Credit associations located in the Midwest part of our country. I believe AgriBank is the best performing Farm Credit bank in the country.
- Branch visits - The executive team and I will again be visiting each of our branches and departments again this year. Those visits began in March. We really enjoy these visits where we strengthen our relationships with staff, and hear everyone’s view on how the organization is performing, how our customers are feeling, if our technology is working as intended, and any other topics our teammates would like to discuss.
New Chief Human Resources Officer
I announced in last Fall’s Partners publication that our current Chief Human Resources Officer, Beth Barker, would be retiring in April after 26 years of service to GreenStone. That meant we needed to replace a member of our executive team. I am pleased to announce that Angela NaDell joined GreenStone and our executive team in March. Angela brings a wealth of experience with her to our association. She has served in a number of human resources leadership roles in not only banking but also in the manufacturing, food and energy industries. We are extremely excited to have Angela joining GreenStone and Farm Credit. You can read more about Angela on page 18.
Planting Season Farm Income Forecasts
I want to wish everyone a successful planting season this year. We obviously always want strong yields, but yields will be even more important in 2024 based on projected crop receipts as a result of lower prices. After record net farm income in 2022, the USDA is projecting 2023 net farm income fell 16% from 2022 and will fall another 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Crop receipts are expected to lead the decline. That level of net farm income would put us at right about the 20-year net farm income average, adjusted for inflation. If the expected declining receipts and rising costs start to put pressure on your balance sheet and cash flows, please remember GreenStone is here for you. We have been around for over 100 years. We are used to cycles in agriculture. If some special needs arise, contact your financial services officer as early as possible.
Thank you again for being customers and members of GreenStone!
Please feel free to reach out to me any time if I can ever be of assistance.
To view the spring 2024 issue of Partners magazine in its entirety, click here.
