Farm Credit Bank

Shareholders of five mid-Atlantic cooperative banks, including three in Maryland, have approved a merger plan that will form the largest agriculture lender on the East Coast. F. Robert Frazee, president and chief executive of Central Maryland Farm Credit, said yesterday that the merger is scheduled to be completed July 1, and the new institution will be headquartered in Westminster. The consolidation will unite Central Maryland Farm Credit of Westminster; Chesapeake Farm Credit of Denton; Delaware Farm Credit of Dover; Keystone Farm Credit of Lancaster, Pa.; and Marva Farm Credit of Salisbury.

Fila USA will move its headquarters to the old Farm Credit Bank complex in Sparks, as the sneaker and clothing firm has increased its U.S. sales by more than 800 percent since 1991.The estimated $10 million sale of the 90,000-square-foot building and 120 acres of surrounding land ranks as one of the region's biggest commercial real estate deals of 1995. Fila will move roughly 200 employees to the three-story buildings by May, doubling its existing headquarters space, company officials said.

Agriculture and its related businesses probably won't be affected bythe current recession as much as the rest of the economy, the president of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore said."

MidAtlantic Farm Credit, Maryland's largest agricultural lender, posted a healthy gain in earnings last year, and its borrowers shared in the wealth. During its annual meeting with shareholders Tuesday night at the Best Western Hotel in Westminster, the cooperative bank announced that net income rose 52.6 percent to $25.35 million for the year that ended Dec. 31. Gerri D. McGuire, senior vice president and chief financial officer, told the approximately 200 farmers in attendance that the earnings translated into $17.5 million in patronage refunds to borrowers, who are also stockholders of the bank.

Kodak earnings drop 29%Beset by Japanese rivals, sluggish European markets and an inability to raise prices at home or abroad, Eastman Kodak Co. said yesterday that earnings dropped 29 percent in the second quarter.The world's leading photographic products company earned $264 million, or 79 cents a share, in the three months that ended June 30, compared with profits of $371 million, or $1.13 a share, in the same period a year ago.Kodak's stock closed at $47.875 yesterday, off $1.625.Farm Credit merger talks continueDirectors of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore met yesterday to discuss a merger with the Farm Credit Bank of Columbia, S.C., but adjourned without reaching a decision, according to Reider J. White, vice president of communications for the Sparks-based cooperative agriculture lender.

The Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore and its district associations yesterday reported strong second-quarter gains.The cooperative banking system is Maryland's largest agriculture lender. It said net income rose 69 percent during the quarter ended June 30, to $9.1 million from $5.4 million in the same period last year.President Gene L. Swackerhamer attributed the gain to higher net interest income and a sharp decline (84.6 percent) in money set aside to cover loan losses. The bank said earnings for the first six months in 1993 rose 62 percent, to $22.9 million, from $14.1 million a year ago.Net income for the first half benefited from a one-time accounting change in the first quarter that brought $7.2 million in profits.

The Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic region's largest agricultural lender, yesterday reported a 74 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits.A sharp jump in the amount reserved for future loan losses was the major factor in the bank's net income falling to $1.4 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $5.6 million in the fourth quarter of 1992. The bank set aside $6.9 million as a safeguard against bad loans in the most recent quarter, compared with $2.2 million in the same period of 1992.

Things were pretty good down on the farm last year, but there could be some rough rows to hoe in the months ahead, the president of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore said yesterday.Looking back on the past year, Gene L. Swackhamer told 450 shareholders attending the bank's annual meeting yesterday that the local bank posted the highest growth in loan volume among the dozen regional divisions that make up the national Farm Credit System, a cooperative banking institution for farmers.But the amount of loans the bank expects to go unpaid -- $57 million to $58 million -- is at its highest level since the mid-1980s, Mr. Swackhamer said.

At Spinning Wheel Farm, simplicity is important."We're notfancy," said Ralph L. Robertson Jr., a dairy farmer who lives with his wife and 10-year-old daughter in a renovated white farmhouse on Old New Windsor Pike."

Maxine and Robert Walker have worked to restore their historic Woodbine farm since they bought it in 1994. Their latest project is to replace the rotting wood on the side of their old yellow barn after rebuilding the stone foundation and replacing the tin roof. To help pay for renovations at Harwood Horse Farm, they want to rent out part of their land for private parties and open an antiques store in an old shed. As they've sought approval from Howard County, though, the Walkers have lost friends, they say. Neighbors along quiet Jennings Chapel Road have fought for five years to stop them, pointing to the threat of traffic, litter and growing commercialization.