Happy February! We are another month closer to planting season, a very important time for all of our members, viewers and listeners. The NAFB staff has been busy “planting” seeds with farmers, ranchers and agribusiness leaders in January. During National Cattlemen’s Business Association (NCBA) show the staff met with farmers and ranchers promoting all of you. They used the NAFB Planner to help farmers find a local NAFB Station and talked with agribusiness leaders about how NAFB Members and their stations can help promote their businesses!

Snow storm Jonas made national news for its inconvenience to travelers. In fact, NAFB Vice President Tom Cassidy (Ag Radio Network, Barneveld, NY) had to spend an extra day in Platte City, MO, after attending his first NAFB Board meeting. Tom reports, “The storm covered just shy of one-third the U.S. population in 26 states from Maine to Louisiana. Jonas dumped the most snow on the Mid-Atlantic, starting Friday, January 22, leaving behind 20 to 40 inches in areas not accustomed to receiving that much snow in a season, let alone two days.”

Mike Austin (WTAQ-AM/FM & WDEZ, Green Bay, WI), left, was presented the Distinguished Service to Wisconsin Agriculture Award by Jim Holte President of Wisconsin Farm Bureau (WFBF) during the organization’s 96th Annual Meeting December 6. The award is given for outstanding contributions to Wisconsin’s agricultural industry. “Mike has been covering agricultural news and events for more than 30 years both on radio and TV in the Green Bay area. He is the ‘voice of agriculture’,” said WFBF Board Member Rosie Lisowe of Chilton. “His agriculture reports and stories are heard throughout the Green Bay area, and his advocacy for the agriculture industry reaches multiple generations.

Happy 2016! Here is to a profitable new year to you and your shops! The new year is going to be an exciting one for our organization. With the final wave of our research being completed to some new learning opportunities,there should be something for everyone to take advantage of this year.

On November 28, NAFB President Brian Winnekins, owner of WRDN Radio (Durand, WI) hosted a reunion of past staff members. Fifteen staff members dating back as far as 1972 joined Brian and Martha Gingras on air to reminisce about their time working at WRDN. Just like now, agriculture was an important part of the broadcast day at WRDN and many of the staff members remember having to fill in to do the Farm Report. For many of the former staff members, working at WRDN was a stepping stone to larger radio markets or new careers in television.

A special election to fill an unexpired term was held for a seat in the Kansas House of Representatives on December 10 and Ken Rahjes (AgView.net) won the election. On January 11, he will become one of 125 members who will represent the constituents of the 110th District. Ken will continue to do three daily ag business reports to the affiliate radio stations in Kansas and Nebraska and will soon to be expanding to other states. He will also do daily updates on AgView.net and social media.

As we gather with friends and family and look back on the past year, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your support, your friendship and your shared thoughts on NAFB this past year.  

I would like to thank everyone for attending NAFB Convention, and to all of our sponsors that make the convention possible. I hope you found the NAFB convention valuable to your career, and professional development. My goal for convention was to provide something for all three of our Membership Councils. We have had many compliments about the NAFB Exchange this year, and it will continue and even be expanded next year. I especially want to thank the NAFB staff for all of their hard work in helping me organize convention.

Bob Quinn (WHO, Des Moines, IA) covers farming for a living, but now he’s taken living in agriculture to a new level. Bob has built a home in the spirit of Iowa agriculture out of a grain bin. He got the idea after Sukup Manufacturing built small grain bins to be taken to Haiti to use for housing after the devastating earthquakes hit that country. “We wanted to have a house here on the farm that was characteristic of a farm.” He considered a cabin, but after covering the Sukup grain bin story, Bob got the idea to try a grain bin as a house. So, a huge 20,000-bushel grain bin was assembled on Bob’s acreage west of St. Charles, IA. The structure is built like a Thermos bottle, he said. A second steel roof is built under the top roof, and two feet of insulation was put in. Another interior wall was put inside the outer wall and filled with insulation. The grain bin home has a loft, which covers half the structure’s inside. Overall, it has a very high ceiling over the living room.

Steve Bridge (WFMB-AM/FM, Springfield, IL) was awarded an NAFB Foundation grant to participate in the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program (IALP). He says participating in this program has been a very good decision. “The seminars are great, but the personal connection you make with the 29 people in the class is the best part. Our class began last November. Over the past year, we have had seminars at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a week in Washington, DC, and a memorable trip to Gettysburg, PA.” In February and March, the group will travel for two weeks to Japan and Panama. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m honored to have been selected for the class and to join the small list of other farm broadcasters and journalists that are part of the IALP.” Individual members of the NAFB Broadcast Council are eligible to apply for a maximum of $1,000 that may be used for a variety of educational opportunities (like this leadership program). Steve is completing his second year of a two-year program. Applications are available through the NAFB Foundation.