NAFB Blog

Taking part in ceremonies honoring the 2015 inductees into the Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction are, from left, Louisiana Radio Network Farm Director Don Molino; honoree and Avoyelles Parish farmer Lucien Laborde; Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain; Erle Barham, whose father, Edwards Barham of Morehouse Parish, was honored posthumously; honoree and Jeff Davis Parish farmer Jimmy Hoppe.

John McDonald was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame May 2 in Murfreesboro, TN. NAFB Executive Director Tom Brand responded to a request from the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame for more information about John, who was 1956 President of the National Association of Television and Radio Farm Directors (NATRFD) and was named to the NAFB Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mike Hergert (Red River Farm Network, Grand Forks, ND) is shown in “action” shots with his dance partner, Chelsey Marchand, at the Dancing with Special Stars event in Grand Forks on April 14.

After retiring from farm broadcasting, Karl Guenther wrote a regular column for the Kalamazoo Gazette. “About three years ago, there were some changes made, including dumping the division for which I was writing – the Hometown Gazette, which was published on Saturday,” Karl said. However, before that actually happened Karl contacted Peter Tanz, operational vice president for Midwest Radio, which owns WKZO and dozens of othe

Patrick Cavanaugh (California Ag Today Radio Network, Clovis, CA) reports on the California water woes. “Throughout the vast farming areas of California’s  Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, intense concern and anxiety are growing over the lack of water for the critical irrigation of permanent crops such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, tree fruit and citrus,” he said. Patrick speaks with farmers every day about what looks like a slow-moving crisis on the farm. California is in its fourth year of drought with the last two years being extremely tough on growers in many areas of California that depend on promised Federal surface water deliveries to their farms. Instead of flowing southward to help farms and cities, excess water is being diverted from the Sacramento Delta area to the Pacific Ocean to protect the Delta Smelt, a three-inch fish listed by the Endangered Species Act.