NAFB Blog

​Producers are expecting the largest cotton crop since 2010 this year if weather continues to cooperate, reports Tony St. James (All Ag Network, KDDD and KFLP, Floydada, TX). The Texas High Plains is the largest cotton growing region in the United States, and Lubbock is the hub of activity. Cotton farmers are expected to start defoliating in early October, which begins the harvest process. 

 Nicole Chance is a sophomore studying agricultural communications at University of Illinois. This past summer, she worked as an intern for Gale Cunningham (WYXY-FM, Champaign, IL). About Gale, Nicole said. “His passion for the agriculture industry is one that is hard to put into words. His unceasing dedication to FFA and 4-H clubs is just the beginning of many contributions he has made to the youth in both Illinois and Indiana.” Nicole continued, “Gale cares about each and every one of the people he interviews and his goal is to provide content that will allow listeners to be excited and encouraged about the industry they represent.”

In September, Pam Jahnke (WOZN/Q106 Radio, Madison, WI) led a 33-member group on a 10-day tour of local farms in Germany and Austria. Most of the tour participants were either still actively farming, retired farmers or people that grew up on a farm. 

Janet Adkison, NAFB Past President, and Washington Bureau Chief for RFD-TV and Rural Radio, spoke September 21 to the Ag Seniors luncheon meeting held at the national headquarters of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, DC.

Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today Network, Zionsville, IN) spent much of August at the Indiana State Fair, but this is not unusual, he has been doing it for the past 31 years.  Founder of the statewide radio network Hoosier Ag Today, Gary attended his first State Fair in 1985. "I was in a trailer parked just outside the swine barn doing my broadcasting over a telephone line," he remembers. “This was before satellites and the Internet so there was literally a copper wire that ran to almost every radio station in the state that carried my live reports.” Today, Gary and his team of HAT reporters use wireless technology to produce and distribute digital audio reports to their network. He’s been an eyewitness to the transformation of the fair over the past three decades.