NAFB Blog

Shawna Olson has been in the television industry since 1999. “I started out as a general assignment reporter, anchor and eventually became a meteorologist for the NBC and CBS affiliates in Fargo, ND,” she said. “I left the television industry to pursue a career in agriculture about seven years ago.

NAFB members at work during this year’s National Farmers Union Convention in San Diego, CA, interviewing Chuck Conner, President, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. Shown from left are Brian Winnekins (WRDN, Durand, WI), Chuck Conner, Mike Hergert (Red River Farm Network, Grand Forks, ND) and Sara Wyant (Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., Camdenton, MO).

Rick Shields (WKZO, Kalamazoo, MI) said, “I've spent all of my adult life talking -- on the air and in the classroom for several years. A couple of years back I decided it was time to spend more time listening. I got hooked on travel early in life and had visited all the lower 48 states by the time I had finished high school.

That’s advice from early in her career that Cyndi Young-Puyear (Brownfield Network, Jefferson City, MO) still reflects on today. “In my first job at a radio station, I answered the phone, wrote advertising copy, deejayed on weekends (with record albums) and performed numerous other tasks that needed to be done.

Mike Dain (First Oklahoma Ag, Yancey Ag Network, and Voice of Southwest Agriculture, Oklahoma City, OK) received the Milton D. Hakel Award for Excellence in Agricultural Communications from National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson at the NFU convention in San Diego, March 6. “Agricultural communicators are increasingly important to providing a link between urban and rural communities, as well as the agriculture industry and the public. Mike’s insight into the viewpoints of family farmers, ranchers and rural citizens is what makes him an excellent communicator for the agricultural community and deserving of this award,” Johnson said.