NAFB Blog

Farm Broadcaster Todd Gleason was honored in April by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for his service to agriculture and to the college. Each year, the College of ACES recognizes the remarkable accomplishments of its alumni through four awards. Gleason, a farm broadcaster for Illinois Public Media and Illinois Extension, and other award recipients were honored with the 2026 ACES Alumni Award of Merit at the college’s Alumni Awards Gala on April 13.

After decades working across agricultural communications, policy and industry relations, Amy Bradford is now using that experience to help others tell their stories.

Bradford is the CEO and founder of Bradford Consultant Group, an independent consulting firm she launched in 2023. Through the business, she focuses on marketing communications, media relations, brand development and leadership coaching within the agricultural industry.

Her path into agriculture started early.

After more than a decade in television journalism, Ashley Michels is bringing her storytelling experience to the agricultural industry in a new way.

For more than four decades, farm broadcaster Max Armstrong (pictured left) worked alongside the legendary Orion Samuelson, building one of the most recognizable partnerships in agricultural broadcasting.

Armstrong says Samuelson’s impact on agriculture, and on the people who knew him, extended far beyond the microphone.

Olivia Marti
Senior, Iowa State University
Agricultural Business

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