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.

NAFB releases new industry research highlighting farmers and ranchers farm radio usage. Research was conducted in three waves this year, Wave 1 – February/March, Wave 2 – May/June and Wave 3 September/October. Research findings show farm radio listening is consistent among producers throughout all three waves, and the more days per week a farmer listens, the more minutes per day they listen. In addition to the phone call survey, we also recruited respondents to participate in a mobile diary research, provided daily photos of how they listen to farm radio.

I would like to thank everyone for attending NAFB Convention, and to all of our sponsors that make the convention possible. I hope you found the NAFB convention valuable to your career, and professional development. My goal for convention was to provide something for all three of our Membership Councils. We have had many compliments about the NAFB Exchange this year, and it will continue and even be expanded next year. I especially want to thank the NAFB staff for all of their hard work in helping me organize convention.

As we gather with friends and family and look back on the past year, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your support, your friendship and your shared thoughts on NAFB this past year.