NAFB Blog

Retired farm broadcaster Roddy Peeples is turning his people skills sharpened by years of farm broadcasting toward welcoming travelers arriving at Dallas/Ft.Worth International Airport (DFW). Even though Roddy sold the Voice of Southwest Agriculture (VSA) Radio Network in Texas in 1995 to Clear Channel Communications, he continued broadcasting for the network several times a month until about six years ago. Roddy and wife, Bettimae, moved to Dallas from San Angelo, TX, in 1997, and in 1999 Roddy joined the then fledgling DFW Airport Ambassador program as a volunteer. 

Madison (Madi) Moore interviews Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary George Greig and operates the video camera for Dave Williams’ interview with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett at the Pennsylvania Ag Progress Days held in August.

Completing her second summer as a recipient of a NAFB Foundation Internship Grant at KKOW (Pittsburg, KS), Anissa Zagonel was born and raised in southeast Kansas. She graduated from Girard High School in 2013, where she was involved in FFA. Currently, a sophomore at Kansas State University, she is majoring in agricultural communications and journalism, with a minor in agronomy. 

Congratulations George! After 57 years in broadcasting, George Gatley (Western Agri-Radio Networks, Inc., Yuma, AZ) retired at the end of August. The son of a Boy Scout executive who was raised in Wisconsin, George grew up working on a family friend’s farm where he learned about the hard work of farming. Initially, there were no tractors. Two Belgian horses did the wagon-pulling and hay field work.

Meghan Grebner (Brownfield Ag News, Fishers, IN) returned August 22 from travel with a group of young farmers to Panama and Ecuador to see their soybean checkoff dollars at work. The annual See For Yourself Tour is sponsored by the United Soybean Board. Participants represented a variety of agricultural regions, but shared at least one common bond – soybeans. To put this in perspective, Meghan said, “A recent study from Texas A&M showed that for every $1 that goes into the soybean checkoff, a farmer sees a $5.20 return on investment.”