Ben Nuelle (Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network, Des Moines, IA) is an agricultural journalist who works with farm broadcaster Ken Root. With this being Ben’s first job as a farm broadcaster he felt “learning from one of the best was important.” He added, “I am thrilled to be working for Ken. He has been a great mentor, and I hope to be just as good as him someday.” Ben’s daily routine consists of filing two stories a day for the network while also managing the network’s website. A graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with a B.S. in Mass Media (with an emphasis in Multimedia Journalism). He is a triplet from Higginsville, MO. His two brothers are Alex and Chad. Alex farms hay and cattle with his dad, Bob, and Chad is a district sales manager for LG Seeds.
Read More
Film maker and NAFB allied industry member Conrad Weaver of ConjoStudios, LLC (Emmitsburg, MD) reports that his 2014 documentary the Great American Wheat Harvest film received a Mid-America Regional Emmy Award for Best Documentary – Cultural. “The Great American Wheat Harvest is a story about American harvesters who risk everything to put food on our tables. Each year they travel from Texas north across the Western Plains harvesting wheat and other crops that feed the world. The film follows their journey and tells their stories,” Conrad said. 
At the 2015 Indiana 4-H Congress in October, Gary Truitt, President of Hoosier Ag Today (HAT), presented the Indiana 4-H Foundation Communications Scholarship to Emily Clark, a 10-year 4-H member from Warrick County. Held at the State Fairgrounds, the 4-H Congress attracted more than 90 of Indiana's top 4-H youth for a day of training and achievement awards. Emily said 4-H has changed her life. "It has changed me as a person, especially my communications skills. I am a quiet person, but 4-H taught me how to express myself in a positive way." She is a college freshman at 
Long-time KICD AM/FM (Spencer, IA) Farm Director Dan Skelton announced that he will retire at the end of this year. Dan's career with KICD radio started in 1997 as a farm broadcaster and editor. In 2000, Dan became Farm Director. For nearly 19 years, area listeners have relied on his voice for the latest market information and ag-related news locally and nationally. 
Terry Henne (WSGW, Saginaw, MI) reports the sugar beet harvest in Michigan is approaching record yields. “So far, processing has been going without a hitch. Tonnage of harvested beets on average has been running more than 29 tons, which has never happened in 100+ years,” Terry said. The early harvest in Michigan generated more than 30% harvested acres.
Duane Murley (KWMT, Fort Dodge, IA) developed his interest in farm radio as he listened to AM 540 KWMT on the tractor radio while baling hay, cultivating, plowing late at night, or whatever he was doing on the tractor (or combine). Duane was born and raised in Sac City, IA, where his parents, two brothers and their families still reside. 
Susan Risinger joined the WJAG/KEXL & KQKX staff in 1989 as assistant news director and has been the farm director since 1991. “As for how I got into this business,” Susan said, “totally by accident.” She explains, “In 1981, I started working as a typesetter (now an ancient job description) for the weekly newspaper in Neligh, about 35 miles west of Norfolk, NE.
Jesse Stewart (KGLO AM-1300, Mason City, IA) was hired as a farm broadcaster in May 2013. He earned a BA in Multimedia Journalism from Simpson College in Indianola, IA. “I actually kind of fell into farm broadcasting by accident. I had never considered it as a career in the industry until having some conversations with some of the staff I knew in Mason City. I had interned with the station the summer before my senior year and got to know the whole staff. 
A crowd of more than 1,000 people packed the Orr Building in August on Ag Day at the Illinois State Fairgrounds to celebrate Illinois' number one industry. The morning started off with a breakfast, featuring the dedication of the Illinois Department of Agriculture administration building as the John R. Block Building. Illinois HB 5540, sponsored by State Senator Darin LaHood and State Representative Don Moffitt, named the administration building after John Rusling Block, the only Illinois agriculture director to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. John Block said he was both “excited and humbled” that the Illinois Department of Agriculture building now bears his name.