Stephanie Hoff recently joined NAFB after beginning her farm-broadcasting career with Mid-West Farm Report (Madison, Wisconsin).
Hoff is a native of Northwest Wisconsin, where she grew up in small towns around Thorp. She and her partner, Conway, now reside in Madison.
Hoff’s passion for agriculture began in grade school, when she and her family spent a summer together putting up fences and a small barn. She and her younger sister farrowed their own pigs for the Clark County Fair. Her family also raised beef and a few fainting goats. (A fainting goat is an American breed of meat goat. It is characterized by myotonia congenita, a hereditary condition which may cause it to stiffen or fall over when startled.)
Hoff was active in her FFA chapter, serving as the reporter for her officer team, traveling to various leadership conferences, and competing in speaking events.
She took her passion for agriculture to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she graduated with a degree in life-sciences communication from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Some of her campus highlights include working for Grow magazine, the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project, and the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant. She also hosted her own radio show on campus called Women in STEM. (STEM is an immersive orientation experience for underrepresented and first-generation incoming students interested in science, technology, engineering, or math.)
After graduating in December 2019, Hoff was selected as a finalist for the Alice in Dairyland program. She received a certificate from the state of Wisconsin for agricultural communications and marketing as part of that experience.
Prior to joining Mid-West Family Broadcasting, Hoff was the editor at WisBusiness.com. There, she covered a wide range of Wisconsin industries, including health care, manufacturing, infrastructure, and, of course, agriculture.
By only her tenth day of work, Hoff knew she was where she belonged.
“I’m hooked. I love telling the story of Wisconsin’s iconic industry with those both new and familiar to everything agriculture encompasses,” she said.
