I have been in radio for almost 20 years. I have a passion to help people grow their business and to share that passion with other colleagues. I remain teachable to the ag and radio community. I feel that I bring a solid dedication to the industry as a whole. I bring the experience of working with multi layers of personalities and issues.

Dwayne Cartmell
Oklahoma State University
dwayne.cartmell@okstate.edu
(405) 744-0461

Years of Experience:  24

Chad Colby
Colby AgTech
colbyuas@gmail.com
(309) 461-5564

Years of Experience:  30

Jim Ross Lightfoot (NAFB Emeritus Member, White Oak, TX) asks and answers his own question, “What do old farm broadcasters do when they’ve read their last market report and filed their last story? Reminisce!  Yes, we oldtimers do a lot of that.”  Jim says he was very fortunate to have started his career in farm broadcasting with an excellent broadcaster by the name of Jack Gowing. “Jack was a great mentor, and he taught me many things that I still use today. In those days the major livestock yards were operating in places like Omaha and Chicago. Between the American Royal Stock Show in Kansas City, Denver Stock Show, Chicago Stock Show and others, we had plenty to do

The Red River Farm Network organizes a series of forums each year for the Big Iron Farm Show in West Fargo, ND. The topics addressed this year included the market outlook, land values, weather and farm succession planning.

Kim Miller (KZEN, Columbus, NE) grew up in west-central Missouri and attended the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. After graduating college in 2015, she took a job at a local radio station. “My dream was to become an on-air personality. One thing led to another, and soon I found myself as the Farm Director at that station.” After being there for a few years, Kim and her husband were looking for better opportunities and thinking about leaving the small town where they both had grown up.

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.