Cooperative Council
(ConUniwd from Pago A 1)
currently serving as acting assis
tant to the regional director for
northeastern counties. He is
responsible for dairy programming
for die six hundred dairy farms in
Bradford County. Known for his
strong programs in dairy feeding,
milking management, mastitis
control, and dairy housing, he also
managed the4-H dairy program for
nearly twenty years.
Guffey has worked closely with
dairy cooperatives in the county'
and has been very involved with
the Sulbra Council of Cooperatives
and the Sulbra Youth Council. In
1994, Guffey and his wife Marilyn
joined extension colleagues from
Pennsylvania and across the U.S.
in helping the agricultural sector of
Poland to adjust to a free market
economy and prepare to compete
in world trade. They spent six
months as an on-site advisor to the
Polish Agricultural Advisory ser
vice. The Guffeys have three child
ren and four grandchildren.
Also new this year was the Hori
zon Award. Laura England, public
relations manager for Atlantic
Dairy Cooperative, received this
award. She is responsible for com
municating the cooperative’s mes
sage to members and the general
public. Prior to joining Atlantic’s
staff, she was an editor at Lancas
ter Farming covering dairy and
livestock news.
England is president of the Pen
nsylvania State Council of Farm
Organizations and is vice president
of the Bucks-Montgomery Council
of PCC. She serves on the commu
nications committee of the Nation
al Milk Producers Federation and
has served on committees for the
Reserve Champion Steer
Keystone Farm Credit A.C.A.
Agway Energy Products
Albrights Feed Mill
Annvllle Frozen Foods
Barnett’s Garage
Ben Welst
Berks Co. Sheep & Wool Growers Assoc.
Binkley & Hurst
Brian Hetrlch Hauling
Carlos R. Leffler, Inc.
Columbian Cutlery
Core States Bank
Dletrlck's Milk Products
Exeter Chiropractic
F.M. Brown’s Sons Inc.
National Council of Farmer
Cooperatives. She is the immediate
past president of the Cooperative
Communicators Association.
England and her husband Joe
have one son, Matthew.
A service recognition was given
to Dr. Kate Smith, assistant profes
sor at Penn State and director of the
cooperative business education
and research program.
In his luncheon address Lyon
observed that today most of the
existing cooperatives were formed
in the 1930’s to the 19S0’s and are
mature and facing massive restruc
turing. These cooperative enter
prises are faced with changing
demographics and outdated capital
investment But he proposed that a
new wave of cooperative develop
ment could do much to rebuild our
rural communities.
“As current cooperative leaders,
you have the obligation to enhance
and protect the owner user’s
investment” Lyon said. “Whether
it be through consolidation, feder
ating, expanding, or downsizing,
you need to do whatever is neces
sary for this protection. I do believe
cooperatives need to more clearly
define the measure of stockholder
value and leaders must give first
consideration to their fiduciary
responsibility.
“In cooperative mergers, leaders
often concentrate on first year sav
ings. how many board seats each
side will have, what the manage
ment structure will be, and how to
preserve the cooperative’s identity.
Rarely is great consideration given
to long term shareholder value and
making that the primary determin
ant in consummating the
transaction.”
THANK YOU TO 1996 BERKS COUNTY
4-H LIVESTOCK BUYERS
Pennsylvania State University Is an Ei
Reserve Champion Steer
Reserve Champion Lamb
Reserve Champion Market Hog
First National Bank of Fredericksburg
First National Bank of Leesport
Gary Kurtz
Giorgio Foods
Goods Receiving Station
Hatfield Quality Meats
Hydro Kirby Fertilizer
Jackman Barlee Farms
Jared Treichler
John F. Lengel Inc.
John Fry, Auctioneer
John Weist
Keystone Farm Credit A.C.A.
Kutztown Grange
Lebanon Valley National Bank
iual Oi
Lyon laid that it is obvious in
cooperatives today that members
often support excessive capital
investment and governing struc
tures that make efficient use of new
technology difficult. But he prop
osed the cooperative holding
cooperative as an alternative in a
way that allows technology jto
function internally without drasti
cally changing the end user product
or service quality and presence.
The impetus of the holding
cooperatrive concept is to provide
a structure for centralized internal
operations of compatible coopera
tive business entities in a format
that takes advantage of technologi
cal efficiencies but also provides
the system to retain the identity and
to a great extent the governance of
the joining cooperatives. With dis
tinct statements of operations and
product and member service deve
lopment, each cooperative under
the holding cooperative head
maintains separate equity pools,
and adequate financial protection
among the subsidiary coopera
tives. This can be accomplished
internally while at the same time
strengthening the product and ser
vice quality to the member owners
of each of these organizations. Val
ue has been added to the equity
base of these owners.
“The merger of financially
stable cooperatives on increased
shareholder value is the absolute
most efficient means of position
ing mature cooperatives for the
21st century,” Lyon said. “Howev
er, when the issue of shareholder
value becomes cloudy, I believe
the holding cooperative becomes a
viable alternative.
“Cooperatives hold promise in
revitalizing rural America. They
loom as a major contributor to the
solution to the road back to fiscal
Reserve Champion Sheep
Keystone Farm Credit A.C.A.
Core States Bank
Lebanon Valley National Bank
- John F. Lengei Inc.
BUYERS
Unlversii
irtunii
solvency and greater social justice.
“If we are to make the future of
our people as promising as the past,
we must replace greed with com
passion. Productivity must be the
basis for new wealth. Short term
quick fixes must be replaced with
tong term social and economic
strategies. The growing division
between the haves and the have
nets must be reversed. Effective
self-help provides for genuine
accommodation rather than con
frontation. Cooperatives answered
the call in addressing these needs in
an earlier generation and can again
if leadership is willing to become
engaged.
“We are in transition from the
external enemies of the Cold War
to the internal enemies of health
care, child care, welfare, senior
care, and access to technology. In
our current business environment,
cooperatives are an attractive alter
native for people fed up with the
profit grabbers and the me-first
mentality.
“Cooperatives can provide such
a profound conscience to our cur
rent business mentality. They can
give every user a voice in the gov
ernance and policy development
They can allow the users to elect
people who really believe in the
principles of cooperative enter
prise. They can retain the capital
got mi
Leidy Inc.
Leslie Seidel
Meadow Bend Farm
Miles Angstadt Livestock Hauling
Norman Kurtz and Son
PA National Bank
Perry Acres
Peters Bros. Meat Market
Pioneer Grange #1777
Reading Bone Agway
Rhoads Brother Trucking
Wayne Feeds
Wayne Wessner Grains
Zettlemoyer Auction Co.
Auctioneers; John Fry, George Frey, Ralph Zettlemoyer
Reserve Chsmpion Market Hog
Core States Bank
within the service or .community
for Which it was intended. There
need not be a skimming off the top
to the deterrent of the users and
employees. There is no better way
to empower people in their own
best interest than through
cooperation.”
In the president’s report at the
annual meeting, Randall Meabon
said that as the bottom line issues
become so critical, let’s not lose
sightof the sometimes less tangible
benefits we reap, one hundred fold,
from cooperative education. We
will work diligently to never give
up bridging the generation gap
between our predecessor coopera
tives and founders.
Executive director. Crystal
Smithmyer. said that as a stakehol
der in PCC, you have the right and
responsibility to help envision the
best possible way to meet member
education, networking, leadership
development and co-op develop
ment needs. The Council’s under
lying and unchanging reason for
being has always been to support
and serve the people that make up
the cooperative community.
Editor’s Note: Smithmyer
also gave a moving tribute to
farmers and their families
that appears as our editorial
for this week, begining on
page AlO.
k