NAFB Blog

Richard Shields (WKZO, Kalamazoo, MI) reports, “Temperatures here in the Kalamazoo area of southwest Michigan have been consistently 15 to 20 degrees below normal in early to mid-April with highs in the low 60s and freezes each night.  Soil temperatures were running far below the low 50s we’d like for corn planting. 

March 6 marked Pam Fretwell’s last day at Farm Journal as she is now retired and will be doing some contract work for Farm Journal and others through her own company Fretwell Communications. Pam never thought she would be involved in agriculture. Growing up in a suburb of Kansas City, she was the daughter of a jeweler and entrepreneur, and although her mother and father both came from rural roots, agriculture was probably the last thing she thought about growing up.

Hoosier Ag Today, Indiana’s premier agricultural radio network, and Farm World, one of the oldest and largest weekly farm newspapers in the Eastern Corn Belt, have jointly purchased the Indiana-Illinois Farm and Outdoor Power Equipment Show from Richard Sherman, who has operated the show the past 39 years. The show will be held December 11 – 13, 2018, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

A group of NAFB broadcasters, management and affiliated industry will be leaving for China on June 21 and returning on July 4. Leader of the tour will be John Block, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture who will be accompanied by his wife.  Tom Cassidy, NAFB President, and Tom Brand, NAFB Executive Director, will handle logistics along the way.  Currently, 10NAFB broadcasters are working to gain visas for reporting in China.   

​Dave Williams (Pennsylvania Farm Country Radio Network, Honesdale, PA) reports, “Winter brought record low temperatures along with high winds exceeding 60 miles per hour and heavy wet snowfalls. All this added together toppled many trees making for large power outages throughout the northeast as well as the state.” Pennsylvania implemented a state of emergency throughout Dave’s area. “In our area there was a dairy barn fire that started from thawing frozen water pipes for their cattle, and around 100 milk cows perished in the fire which was devastating for the family.” But in January at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Dave’s county received good news in the form of a new certified FFA chapter for the first time in more than 40 years.