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Ag News Director Lorrie Boyer (KSIR Radio, Fort Morgan, CO) was awarded the 2015 Communications Excellence Award by the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts (CACD). The award was presented for her work in helping to educate people about what the CACD does and how they work with landowners and agriculture operators to advance soil health and enhance natural habitat. Also, she helped CACD with promoting meetings, events and letting people know about resources that they have available.
Each year since joining Brownfield Ag News (Jefferson City, MO), Tom Steever has produced an hour-long Year in Review. 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.
Bob Quinn (WHO, Des Moines, IA) covers farming for a living, but now he’s taken living in agriculture to a new level. Bob has built a home in the spirit of Iowa agriculture out of a grain bin. He got the idea after Sukup Manufacturing built small grain bins to be taken to Haiti to use for housing after the devastating earthquakes hit that country. “We wanted to have a house here on the farm that was characteristic of a farm.” He considered a cabin, but after covering the Sukup grain bin story, Bob got the idea to try a grain bin as a house. So, a huge 20,000-bushel grain bin was assembled on Bob’s acreage west of St. Charles, IA. The structure is built like a Thermos bottle, he said. A second steel roof is built under the top roof, and two feet of insulation was put in. Another interior wall was put inside the outer wall and filled with insulation. The grain bin home has a loft, which covers half the structure’s inside. Overall, it has a very high ceiling over the living room.
Steve Bridge (WFMB-AM/FM, Springfield, IL) was awarded an NAFB Foundation grant to participate in the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program (IALP). He says participating in this program has been a very good decision. “The seminars are great, but the personal connection you make with the 29 people in the class is the best part. Our class began last November. Over the past year, we have had seminars at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a week in Washington, DC, and a memorable trip to Gettysburg, PA.” In February and March, the group will travel for two weeks to Japan and Panama. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m honored to have been selected for the class and to join the small list of other farm broadcasters and journalists that are part of the IALP.” Individual members of the NAFB Broadcast Council are eligible to apply for a maximum of $1,000 that may be used for a variety of educational opportunities (like this leadership program). Steve is completing his second year of a two-year program. Applications are available through the NAFB Foundation. 
Farmer and farm radio host Dave Williams, left, receives the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award from Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) President Rick Ebert during the PFB 65th Annual Meeting in Hershey, PA. The award is presented to an individual whose dedicated work and service has significantly contributed to the advancement of Pennsylvania agriculture. Besides being the host and owner of the Pennsylvania Farm Country Radio Network, Dave is a vegetable, hay and straw farmer from Honesdale, PA, who served for eight years (2004-2012) on the PFB State Board of Directors. “It is a great honor to receive the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award,” Dave said. Earlier, he was the 2005 recipient of the PFB Distinguished Local Affairs Leader Award. Dave’s radio show is broadcast six days a week on 24 radio stations in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, and he is the Northeast reporter for Rural TV, which is affiliated with RFD-TV.