NAFB Blog

What does a farm broadcaster do when not on the air or working on a story? Some have hobbies, travel, spend time on the farm or maybe they have another job. Dave Schumacher (KTRS, St. Louis, MO) is one who has the other job.  “In my days before radio some 40 years ago while working as a commission man at the National Stockyard, I was fascinated with the auctioneer selling the cattle.  I had to learn how to do that.”

NAFB members who know Jerry Harrington (Honorary Member, Iowa City, IA) as the former marketing public relations professional from DuPont Pioneer have enjoyed his help in pulling from the rich source of agronomic and research experts in Pioneer to offer interviews to farm broadcasters. Since retiring from Pioneer in 2014, Harrington has turned to his first love and become a full-time historian – specializing in Iowa political history.

Brownfield Ag News anchor/reporter Ken Anderson received the American Coalition for Ethanol’s (ACE) 2018 Media Excellence Award at the group’s recent annual conference in Minneapolis. Presenting the award, ACE Communications Director Katie Fletcher said Anderson “epitomizes objective news reporting, and covers the policy, markets, events and issues that the ethanol and agricultural industries need to know.” 

Leif Bakken (Northern Ag Network, Billings, MT) is a new farm broadcaster and NAFB member who grew up on a small cow and wheat operation north of Lemmon, SD, where they also raised sheep until recently. His parents, DeJon and Jeri Lynn Bakken, currently run around 120 head of cattle and grow wheat. From a very young age, Leif was involved in agriculture especially in 4-H and FFA. He showed chickens, sheep, and steers almost every year of his 4-H career. “In North Dakota 4-H, there was a communication arts program where I started doing public speaking, demonstrations, and a broadcasting event. That’s when I was starting to realize this might be what I wanted to do.

Sarah Heinrich (KFGO, Fargo, ND) grew up on a ranch south of Mandan, ND, raising purebred cattle and small grains. “As a small girl, I grew up on a farm where my uncle and longtime farm broadcaster, Al Gustin, would spend every afternoon helping and working alongside my dad, who is a full-time farmer to this day. I always thought Uncle Al had the best job. He could do ag news in the early morning hours and then be out raising cattle in the afternoon. My mom has been a 4-H leader for more than 40 years, so 4-H and FFA were a natural fit for me to be involved in during my entire school career.”