the Panama Canal.
Each year since joining Brownfield Ag News (Jefferson City, MO), Tom Steever has produced an hour-long Year in Review program. In mid- November, all Brownfield broadcasters gather on a conference call to talk about what stories should be included and who should produce the segment on each particular story. “Much of the audio used in the show is what was gathered at the time the story was current, while some is provided through interviews with those reflecting on the year just passed,” Tom said. Among top stories of 2015 was the planting, growing and harvest season, which is a perennial inclusion in the show. “This year we included brief features from each of the states in which we broadcast. Conditions ranged from ideal, with rainfall and temperatures that could not have been better, to areas where planting was impossible because of too much rain. Missouri, for instance, had about a million-and-a-half acres that were not planted this season.”
Tom continues, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations finally bore fruit in early October, but now it’s up to the lawmaking bodies of each of a dozen participating nations to ratify the trade agreement. To that end, the White House called and invited me to interview President Obama about the TPP. I replayed part of that interview during which, among other things, the President told me that farmers may be able to help with passage by coaxing congressional representatives to approve the deal.”
Also, Brownfield reported on the downturn in the farm economy leading to farmers’ belt tightening. The change is resulting in mergers or talk of mergers among large agribusiness firms, such as Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta. The Year in Review program included stories of avian influenza and the resulting loss of millions of poultry. “We covered what has been commonly known as the Waters of the U.S. rulemaking by the EPA to the consternation of farmers and the groups that represent them. Another controversial issue is whether or not to label foods containing genetically modified organisms, and whether or not to mandate the labeling of country of origin of meat and other foods.” In the program, Brownfield included reaction to the announcement of the EPA renewable fuel standard blending volumes. “There were comments from lawmakers regarding threats to federal crop insurance and there was reaction to the Veterinary Feed Directive that limits the use of antibiotics in food animals.” Every Brownfield reporter had a hand in producing the Year in Review,” Tom said. “I close the program with comments from Brownfield market reporters, John Perkins and Jerry Passer, about what has pushed commodity and livestock prices through the year. The shows from each year are archived on our website.” Click here to listen to the 2015 Year In Review from Brownfield Ag News.
Tom concludes, “There’s always the possibility of a late breaking story unfolding after we’ve gone to press, so to speak. This year it was the unusual and tragic flooding in Missouri and Illinois. The week of Christmas brought with it torrents of rain in a wide swath across the Heartland swelling tributaries that feed into the Mississippi River. That waterway, along with the Missouri River, the Meramec River and others over-topped banks and inundated roads and bridges, destroying property and taking the lives of more than two dozen people. At the same time, lives were lost in tornadoes that ripped through Texas.”
