Little Ridge Dairy near Ontario, WI, hosted the 35th Vernon County June Dairy Month Breakfast on the Eirik and Cheryl Eness family farm on Saturday, June 20. The Vernon County, Wisconsin, Dairy Promotion Committee asked the Eness family to host this year's breakfast on what was, until 1963, the Samuelson dairy farm. Orion Samuelson (WGN Radio, Chicago, IL) was invited to attend and speak to the guests. Despite a light rain for the first two hours, 2,500 people showed up to see a modern dairy farm operation and enjoy a good farm breakfast, including ice cream. Orion said he was no stranger to inclement weather since there was a blizzard the day he was born that left 14 inches of snow on the ground. The doctor never made it to the farm in time for his birth and his aunt saved the day serving as a midwife. 

Issues important to rural Americans, farmers, ranchers, and senior citizens will be the sole focus in a new series of live, one-hour, primetime programs featuring presidential candidates leading up to the caucus in Iowa, and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. In announcing this coverage on June 17, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Patrick Gottsch, Founder and President of Rural Media Group, said, “Rural America’s impact on national elections is undeniable. This is a tremendous opportunity for each candidate to address issues largely ignored by urban media, yet are so important to many of the citizens voting in these primaries.” He continued, "From day one, Rural Media Group's goal has been to reconnect city with country.

SUMMER INTERN AT KRVN…Bryce Doeschot of Hickman, NE, joins the KRVN/Rural Radio Network team as the summer farm broadcast intern.  Doeschot is a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) where he is pursuing a degree in agricultural and environmental sciences communications. On campus, Bryce is active in campus activities, serves as an executive officer of the Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity and is president of the UNL Collegiate Farm Bureau. Growing up on a family farm has inspired him to pursue a career in agricultural communications.

Will there be enough water to survive? Thirsty Land is a new documentary that tells the story of the water crisis and drought in the Western U.S., its impact on agriculture, communities and the global food supply. “The story of drought needs to be told! Our global food supply and our very survival of humans depend on clean, abundant fresh water.  I want to make the audience think about it every time they take a drink of water, enjoy a shower or water their lawn,” says Conrad Weaver (Allied Industry Member, Conjostudios, LLC, Emmitsburg, MD), who is producer and director of the film. The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska is partnering with Weaver in the production of Thirsty Land film. DWFI, along with the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have provided startup sponsorship funds for the project to move ahead.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts plans two international and two domestic trade missions a year as part of his mission to grow Nebraska. Jesse Harding (KRVN/Rural Radio Network, Lexington, NE) traveled with the first mission hosted by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and Department of Economic Development. For the Governor’s first international trade mission, the delegation went to Italy, Belgium and Denmark. The goals were to meet with companies who already use Nebraska products, have trade talks and to hopefully bring business into the state. Jesse was invited to join the mission as the only media participant. She said her most interesting takeaways came from visiting with European officials about American and Nebraska agriculture.