Your Board of Directors and AFCNA’s officers, employees and volunteers are working hard to position AFCNA for strength, expanded member services, and patronage distributions. We are now building the infrastructure of your cooperative to make fleece a prominent component of all successful alpaca farm - large and small. As we achieve milestones, they will be posted on our members’ site at www.afcna.com. Please register your farm on the site and keep us up-to-date with email and postal address changes so we can keep in touch. Let us give you a tour!

Elections – The magic of farmers’ cooperatives materializes with member participation. AFCNA is its members. Please review the enclosed Director candidate material and VOTE! Ballots must be postmarked by March 28.

Fleece Show – An AOBA certified AFCNA National Fleece Show will be presented the first weekend in August. Participation is by attendance or mail-in. The show will be enormous and is expected to sell out fast. This is a pre-announcement for members. Take this early opportunity to register. Show rules, information and registration are at www.alpacawebsite.com.

Cooperatives – The magic of farmers’ cooperatives and how they serve the unique interests of farmers is explained in our President’s Alpacas Magazine Spring issue article Cranberries to Alpacas – The Benefits of a Farmers’ Cooperative. We hope this article brings a better understanding of AFCNA’s role in your alpaca adventure.

Certification Mark – The "North American Alpaca" certification mark displayed to the right was recently adopted. It will certify that the alpaca content of products carrying the mark is 100% North American alpaca and meets certain quality standards. It will be placed on AFCNA products made with member-contributed fleece. The mark will also be licensed to growers of North American alpaca fleece as well as other manufacturers and venders of North American alpaca fleece products.

Sort – As you know, member contributed fleece is collected at Tapedes de Lana Weaving Center in Mora, New Mexico. Visit their website at www.tapetesdelana.com for general information about this interesting non-profit organization. Your 2004 & 2005 clip fleece contribution is now being sorted into grades at Tapedes de Lana. A quality factor accounting of your contributed fleece will be sent when sorting is finished.

Purchasing – AFCNA’s online store at www.americasalpaca.com is being redesigned and will have an expanded product mix for your personal use and to stock your farm store. Please visit our store to take advantage of merchandise sales as we wind down this winter season. Purchasing division net profits in excess of AFCNA operating needs will be distributed to members based on their annual purchases. We are also planning to carefully expand our market beyond the alpaca community. Profits from this expansion can only be applied to AFCNA overhead and expansion, though, since they are not based on member purchases. An affiliate program is part of this expansion. The program pays members a sales commission for retail sales they direct through their farm website to AFCNA’s online store. As a result, members without farm stores will also be able to benefit when helping AFCNA market merchandise. It is all about being an AFCNA team player.

Marketing – AFCNA’s marketing division is responsible for marketing your fleece in a value added form. Our most successful product is the Extreme Alpaca socks. To meet growing demand, we have contracted with a Pennsylvania hosiery mill to buy our knitting machine and to make the socks faster and more economically. We have also engaged a new Pennsylvania spinning mill that will supply sock yarn faster and at a lower cost. They spin over 40,000 pounds of wool and synthetic fiber a week. A prototype 100% member fleece hat–scarf set has just been completed. We hope to start production shortly. A line of natural color hand knitting yarn is being developed. Our new spinning mill can now successfully spin 100% hand knitting yarn from member fleece. 100% alpaca yarn is now in the hands of another US mill to knit/weave prototype gloves and a throw. These member fleece sourced products will be available in our purchasing division’s online store. Marketing division net proceeds in excess of AFCNA operating needs will be distributed to members as payment for their fleece based on their annual contributed fleece total quality factor.

AFCNA is a pioneer in the uncharted waters of the large volume North American alpaca fiber industry. You and we have suffered the disappointments of being a pioneer, but the puzzle pieces are now fitting together. A bright and successful picture is coming into sight. The puzzle picture, however, cannot be completed without your participation. Our strength comes directly from you. The magic of AFCNA as a farmers’ cooperatives is that you benefit to the extent you and the other members contribute more fleece, purchase more products, and encourage more alpaca farmers to become members. While the time line is not in focus, member distributions and repayment of earlier member loans are priorities.

There is strength in numbers if we all march to the beat of the same AFCNA drum. Please remember – our members are the only ones benefiting from AFCNA. There is no officer, director, single member or select group of members who benefit in any way you do not. Have a good year!

Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America, Inc.

Board of Directors