South Region Vice President, Gary Cooper, invites fellow NAFB Members to participate in a unique livestock reporting opportunity in south-central France, October 4-6, 2017 to attend and cover the European Union’s largest annual Livestock Summit, Sommet de L‘Elevage. The 26th annual event is October 4-6 at its permanent facilities in Clermont-Ferrand, France, located in the heart of Europe’s cattle and livestock production region. Gary had the opportunity to attend Sommet de L`Elevage last year.
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April President's Update
Max Armstrong, 2017 NAFB President
We are rapidly approaching Washington Watch, and I am very excited about it, quite frankly. Assuming our new Agriculture Secretary is confirmed by then, he will be with us. We have been assured White House Ag Advisor Ray Starling will be joining us as well. When you add in the lawmakers, their staff members, the Federal Communications Commission visit and other opportunities, it totals up to a great, jam-packed three days.
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Shannon Higgins has joined the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) as the Events Manager. She is a 2014 University of Missouri graduate with a degree in Hospitality Management. Shannon spent two years as a chapter consultant for Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity, Inc., working with local chapters on event planning, and more.
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Have you been to Washington lately? Some of you routinely travel there, especially to accompany farm organizations on their D.C. visits this time of year. And I have found those trips to be good experiences in that they can bring you closer to your farmers and to lawmakers in Washington. With a Farm Bill to be written a few months down the road, there are a lot of views being shared, and that means a lot of news for your broadcasts.
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“Well, if you’ll look on our website, you’ll find all the details right there.” That’s how our executive director gracefully explained to me that if I took the time to explore NAFB.com, all I needed to know was right at my fingertips. He was right.
Have you done that lately? Have you really looked around on our site? Other than seeking the contact information for other members or utilizing the outstanding resources and feeds of our News Service, have you taken a dive down into what else is there? I hope you will.
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Over the past 15 years, the NAFB Board of Directors, in association with the past and current Executive Directors, have consistently approved a policy of building a sustaining financial reserve. This portion of the NAFB financial platform is to provide for sustainability of annual programs and services, as well as protecting the association from unforeseen financial challenges that could place the association in jeopardy of its mission goals and objectives.
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Merry Christmas! Wow, where has 2016 gone! It seems just like yesterday I was getting ready to head to Orlando for the American Farm Bureau Convention in January! The NAFB staff has been very busy since wrapping up convention. The staff has been working on the 2017 budget, preparing for a new supplemental research project and of course 2017 Washington Watch and Convention
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I hope harvest is going well for farmers in your area. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by the recent flooding. Members of your NAFB staff attended the fall NAMA Conference in Raleigh, NC this month. Mindy, Lance, Tom and myself had a chance to meet with many Allied Industry Members during the Conference and everyone was excited about the new additions to the NAFB Planner that will now include NASS data for every county! NAFB also hosted a a welcome luncheon Wednesday during the confernce, and we had our largest crowd to date! Thank you to Mindy and Lance for all of their planning for this event!
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It's hard to believe summer is winding down, and we are heading towards fall and harvest! As we head into fall, that means more national events are coming up like Farm Progress Days and World Dairy Expo. I'm pleased to announce a new service from your organization that was an idea from a broadcast member. Under the News Service Tab, look for Coverage Opportunities. This will be a place to match up broadcasters covering an event with broadcasters looking for coverage from an event. All you have to do is e-mail Tom Brand, offering to cover an event or looking for event coverage, and it will be posted to the page. Check the page often and if there is something you are offering to cover or need coverage of, you will be able to contact that broadcaster directly and work out the arrangement between the both of you. Tom is hoping to have the page done in a forum type in the future so you will be able to post directly to the page. As time goes on, we may expand to include broadcasters looking for a vacation fill-in or other temporary needs. I hope you find this page useful.
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Happy Fair Season! It's a busy time with county and state fairs, and I hope your broadcasts from the fairs are great! It's also been a busy time with severe weather for many, and while it's tough to report on our loyal listeners with damage, it’s during severe weather coverage that our stations shine! On July 5, we had five tornadoes in our listening area causing extensive damage. There have been many tornado outbreaks in Central Minnesota and over 11 inches of rain fall earlier in the month in Northern Wisconsin, so it has been a busy time for many of our NAFB broadcasters.