Airing on the Side of Agriculture

Growing Our Future to Harvest Our Success
Planning has already started for the next NAFB Convention, November 11-13, 2015. We are working on developing programming for all councils, including the Allied Industry, and Management and Sales.

IN THE MONTANA LEGISLATURE…his farm broadcasting skill  helps Taylor Brown (Northern Ag Network, Billings, MT) be a more effective Montana state senator.  He says he’s learned to “boil down” complex issues into a couple of paragraphs for his listeners and that experience equips him to better represent his citizens. “Because of mandated term limits, I am going into my fourth and final session in the Senate.  It will be my second session to Chair the Senate Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation Committee. Our sessions are limited to 90 days, every other year.  We start January 5 and go until the end of April.”  

The 2015 edition is on the wall in farm homes and broadcasters’ offices to help keep track of the new year. John Harvey reports, “The 2015 version is a great one, and my 2016 Classic Tractors Calendar is in the works. I've featured 82 different makes of tractors—and the beat goes on.” About NAFB, he said, “What a great group of busy, interesting personalities.

Sam Knipp (Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma City, OK) conducts a "training" interview with a student in the Oklahoma State University capstone class, "Animal Ag Advocacy and Policy."This marks the fifth year that Sam has worked alongside Dr. Jerry Fitch to teach students to be advocates for animal agriculture. The course is taught in the Animal Science Department each semester.

GREG AKAGI HONORED…Kansas Farm Bureau recognized members and friends at its 96th Annual Meeting, Dec. 1-2, in Manhattan.

WITHOUT THE NAFB INTERN SCHOLARSHIPS…it would not be possible to give these and others the opportunity to experience farm broadcasting. Gale Cunningham said, “I’ve been blessed with multiple interns, and some that have taken their experience to go on to be fine broadcast advocates for agriculture in their own professional setting.”

A RODEO COWBOY...while a student at Texas A&M University, Charlie Rankin (Emeritus and retired, KURV, Edinburg, TX) proudly displays his 60-year membership certificate from NAFB on his apartment wall in Boerne, TX. In 1947, he won the all-around title at the Texas A&M Rodeo. He was part of the group of college contestants who organized the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. But, he left the rodeo ring behind after

LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD…We asked Past President Janet Adkison to look back and offer her reflections as NAFB moves into 2015: 

Quicker than anticipated, 2014 came to a close.  I was warned the year serving as NAFB President would fly by and it certainly did.  As I look back at the year I believe it will always stand out as a highlight--A new home, a new job, and NAFB leadership combined into one bundle of excitement creates a memory that’s going to be hard to match.

When it comes to the family business led by Jeff Nalley (Cromwell Ag Radio Network, Utica, KY). That’s what Jeff does in his spare time when he’s taking a break from farm broadcasting. “I grew up on a farm that fell in the 80’s crisis. That led me to radio. I wanted the kids to have some ‘hands-on’ experience with growing crops and marketing. We started with both mums and strawberries. Now we’re down to just mums. The weather isn’t favorable for a commercial strawberry business with our soil type and location. We started with just 250 mums. We’re well over that mark now.” Hot weather in June killed about 10 percent of their early plants.

During the 71st NAFB Convention three college students were award the 2014 NAFB Foundation Scholarships.