Airing on the Side of Agriculture

A lifelong passion for agriculture has brought a Missouri native farm broadcaster to Kansas. Sara Miles joins the Kansas Farm and Ranch Radio team as the Farm Director. Sacha Sanguinetti, General Manager and Vice President of Radio for Rocking M Media, said, “We are constantly looking for new and better ways to pass along the vital information producers need. Sara is an innovative, self-driven, natural-born leader who brings a fresh approach to  ag media.” She grew up on a family farm in northeast Missouri which spans five generations where she developed a passion for agriculture

When John Winfield fully retired in July 2017, Dixon Williams became the fulltime farm director for Telesouth Communications/Supertalk (Jackson, MS). “My interest in radio started while I was in high school at Provine High in Jackson, MS.    I went on to get a broadcast journalism degree at the University of Southern Mississippi. His first job in broadcasting was at WAPF-AM/WCCA (McComb, MS) in 1982.

The Missouri FFA Association is recognizing Andrew McCrea (Farm Journal Media, Maysville, MO) with their Distinguished Service Award this year for his service to agricultural education and the Missouri FFA. They are extending a special thank you to him for his many years of service. Andrew is an award-winning radio and TV broadcaster, a nationally recognized speaker, and a farmer and rancher.

The 5th annual Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction has honored Margie Jenkins and the late Pierre "Pete" Lanaux as its 2018 inductees, reports Don Molino (Louisiana Farm Bureau Agri-News Radio Network, Baton Rouge, LA). Both were recognized for their extraordinary contributions to Louisiana agriculture. 

Richard Shields (WKZO, Kalamazoo, MI) reports, “Temperatures here in the Kalamazoo area of southwest Michigan have been consistently 15 to 20 degrees below normal in early to mid-April with highs in the low 60s and freezes each night.  Soil temperatures were running far below the low 50s we’d like for corn planting. 

March 6 marked Pam Fretwell’s last day at Farm Journal as she is now retired and will be doing some contract work for Farm Journal and others through her own company Fretwell Communications. Pam never thought she would be involved in agriculture. Growing up in a suburb of Kansas City, she was the daughter of a jeweler and entrepreneur, and although her mother and father both came from rural roots, agriculture was probably the last thing she thought about growing up.

Hoosier Ag Today, Indiana’s premier agricultural radio network, and Farm World, one of the oldest and largest weekly farm newspapers in the Eastern Corn Belt, have jointly purchased the Indiana-Illinois Farm and Outdoor Power Equipment Show from Richard Sherman, who has operated the show the past 39 years. The show will be held December 11 – 13, 2018, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

A group of NAFB broadcasters, management and affiliated industry will be leaving for China on June 21 and returning on July 4. Leader of the tour will be John Block, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture who will be accompanied by his wife.  Tom Cassidy, NAFB President, and Tom Brand, NAFB Executive Director, will handle logistics along the way.  Currently, 10 NAFB broadcasters are working to gain visas for reporting in China.   

​Dave Williams (Pennsylvania Farm Country Radio Network, Honesdale, PA) reports, “Winter brought record low temperatures along with high winds exceeding 60 miles per hour and heavy wet snowfalls. All this added together toppled many trees making for large power outages throughout the northeast as well as the state.” Pennsylvania implemented a state of emergency throughout Dave’s area. “In our area there was a dairy barn fire that started from thawing frozen water pipes for their cattle, and around 100 milk cows perished in the fire which was devastating for the family.” But in January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Dave’s county received good news in the form of a new certified FFA chapter for the first time in more than 40 years.

To watch the weather on a national news outlet, one would think that the Northeast suffered a terrible winter. But Tom Cassidy (Ag Radio Network, Inc., Barneveld, NY), who has lived in the Northeast for nearly 50 years, thinks that it was as typical as could be. Big snows early, an early thaw that left communities under water, a bitter cold snap, a few big snows and an unusually long, drawn out maple season has characterized the winter of 2018 for Tom.