Jason Vance (Let’s Talk Horses Radio Network, Columbia, MO) began his radio career at KRES (Moberly, MO) while attending the University of Missouri. During a freshman agricultural journalism class, Tom Brand, then the farm director at KFEQ (St. Joseph, MO) was a guest speaker and talked about the radio press corps at the National FFA Convention.

Merry Christmas! Wow, where has 2016 gone! It seems just like yesterday I was getting ready to head to Orlando for the American Farm Bureau Convention in January! The NAFB staff has been very busy since wrapping up convention. The staff has been working on the 2017 budget, preparing for a new supplemental research project and of course 2017 Washington Watch and Convention

​AgNet West farm news director Sabrina Hill was born just a few hours from the North Pole. North Pole, Alaska, that is. While she may be purely Californian now, every Christmas she channels some of her snowy beginnings, dons red velvet and white fur, and turns into Mrs. Claus.

“After almost 37 years with John Deere, I decided to take retirement and move to the next chapter in my life,” said Barry Nelson. “I consider myself very blessed and very fortunate to have had a great career with a great company. I also have had the tremendous opportunity to make great friends outside of Deere, in the industry, the media, and with farmers and ranchers throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

Often called the “radio voice of Kansas Agriculture,” WIBW Radio/Kansas Agriculture Network Farm Director Kelly Lenz was honored as one of the 2016 inductees to the Kansas Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Rhonda Garrison (Southern Farm Network, Raleigh, NC) reports significant flooding of agricultural crops and livestock in the Carolinas from Hurricane Matthew, but damage reports are just now starting to come in.

“Low commodity prices and too many rules and regulations aren’t specific to U.S. farmers and ranchers. Farmers in England, Wales and Scotland are also looking at finding creative ways to make their bottom lines more black than red, and in many cases it’s not happening. That’s what we found during a recent farm tour to Great Britain with a group of farmers and a few city folks from western and southern Wisconsin,” Bob Bosold reports.

On September 1, The North Dakota Broadcasters Association presented their Teddy Awards for radio and television and covering news, promotions, public service and online/digital presence of broadcast outlets in the state. Ken Morgan (Duane Hagen) said, “To my surprise, one of the stations I work with submitted a report that I did with Extension Meteorologist Daryl Richison. 

I hope harvest is going well for farmers in your area. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by the recent flooding. Members of your NAFB staff attended the fall NAMA Conference in Raleigh, NC this month. Mindy, Lance, Tom and myself had a chance to meet with many Allied Industry Members during the Conference and everyone was excited about the new additions to the NAFB Planner that will now include NASS data for every county! NAFB also hosted a a welcome luncheon Wednesday during the confernce, and we had our largest crowd to date! Thank you to Mindy and Lance for all of their planning for this event!

For Don Molino (Louisiana Farm Bureau Agri-News Radio Network, Baton Rouge, LA) and his wife, Laura, the "Great Flood of 2016" started at 6:00 a.m. August 14 with a neighbor banging on the front door “telling us if we wanted to get a car out we'd better do it now!” Don explained, “When we went to bed the night before things were calm and dry for the most part.