​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.

On November 28, NAFB President Brian Winnekins, owner of WRDN Radio (Durand, WI) hosted a reunion of past staff members. Fifteen staff members dating back as far as 1972 joined Brian and Martha Gingras on air to reminisce about their time working at WRDN. Just like now, agriculture was an important part of the broadcast day at WRDN and many of the staff members remember having to fill in to do the Farm Report. For many of the former staff members, working at WRDN was a stepping stone to larger radio markets or new careers in television.

A special election to fill an unexpired term was held for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives on December 10 and Ken Rahjes (AgView.net) won the election. On January 11, he will become one of 125 members who will represent the constituents of the 110th District. Ken will continue to do three daily ag business reports to the affiliate radio stations in Kansas and Nebraska and will soon to be expanding to other states. He will also do daily updates on AgView.net and social media.

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).