Airing on the Side of Agriculture

Monte James is host of a new start-up radio network called Your Ag Network. He grew up on a ranch on the northern borders of the sprawling Sandhills of Nebraska. His family raised cattle and farmed the Niobrara River Valley in Keya Paha County. His radio career started at a small station in O’Neill, NE, doing everything from hosting the Polka Show to local news and markets. Monte’s “tour of duty” included stops at KSCJ (Sioux City, IA), where he served as morning show host and farm director. Then, he went on to WHO (Des Moines, IA) as part of the Marconi Award winning air-staff, as well as serving a lengthy stint at WNAX (Yankton, SD).

Howard Hale (KSIR, Minatare, NE) and Emily Pile are two western Nebraska residents who were recognized by The University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center for their decades of service to agriculture and Extension. The Service to Panhandle Agriculture Award was presented to Howard Hale and The Service to Panhandle Extension Award was presented to Elaine Pile of Gering, NE.

​NAFB President Elect Tony St. James (KFLP/KDDD, Floydada, TX) said, “Fields of white are common across West Texas, especially in the fall, as cotton bolls open to reveal the Fabric of Our Lives. Unfortunately for some producers on the Texas High Plains (the largest growing region in the United States), late-planted cotton gave way to an ice storm in late November and a blizzard in late December turning the crop into a sea of red.” Tony explains, “Pressured by Chinese policy and reduced demand for cotton worldwide, prices have fallen below the cost of production leaving many producers upside down in 2015.

Tony Purcell (Texas State Networks, Dallas, TX) said the blizzard in the Texas Panhandle had a major effect. “Movement of cotton and cattle to market came to a standstill. Fences were knocked down and a lot of cattle were loose and unaccounted for. At one point, about 20 head were tying up traffic on the main loop in Lubbock,” Tony said. There was not much in the way of death loss reported, but that may change as ranchers are able to get into the pastures,” he added. “The Dallas area basically experienced all four seasons in a four-day period. On December 25, it was 73 degrees and sunny. On December 26, it was 81 degrees with a massive tornado outbreak.

Ron Hayes (Radio Oklahoma Network, Oklahoma City, OK) reports, “Oklahoma has always been a land of weather extremes, and the end of 2015 proved that to be true.  The winter storm that some weather watchers were calling Goliath brought a variety of weather into Oklahoma—from snow drifts several feet tall to flood waters that broke records that were set in 1950.” In Central and Western Oklahoma, the ice and snow caused power outages for more than 150,000 homes (many served by Rural Electric Coops).

Mike Dain (First Oklahoma Ag, Voice of Southwest Agriculture and Yancey Ag Network, Oklahoma City, OK) traveled to Fort Knox, KY, where his son-in-law is Command Sergeant Major of Army Cadet Command (ROTC).  On his return, he reports that it rained all the way from Kentucky to Tennessee then across Arkansas and into Oklahoma. “Goliath (storm) dropped immense amounts of rain in Arkansas and in the eastern half of Oklahoma. Flooding was big concern because of 6-12 inches of rain while blizzard conditions, an ice storm, and winter storm conditions covered western Oklahoma and down into Texas.

Ag News Director Lorrie Boyer (KSIR Radio, Fort Morgan, CO) was awarded the 2015 Communications Excellence Award by the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts (CACD). The award was presented for her work in helping to educate people about what the CACD does and how they work with landowners and agriculture operators to advance soil health and enhance natural habitat. Also, she helped CACD with promoting meetings, events and letting people know about resources that they have available.

Each year since joining Brownfield Ag News (Jefferson City, MO), Tom Steever has produced an hour-long Year in Review. In mid- November, all Brownfield broadcasters gather on a conference call to talk about what stories should be included and who should produce the segment on each particular story. “Much of the audio used in the show is what was gathered at the time the story was current, while some is provided through interviews with those reflecting on the year just passed,” Tom said. Among top stories of 2015 was the planting, growing and harvest season, which is a perennial inclusion in the show.