NAFB releases new industry research highlighting farmers and ranchers farm radio usage. Research was conducted in three waves this year, Wave 1 – February/March, Wave 2 – May/June and Wave 3 September/October. Research findings show farm radio listening is consistent among producers throughout all three waves, and the more days per week a farmer listens, the more minutes per day they listen. In addition to the phone call survey, we also recruited respondents to participate in a mobile diary research, provided daily photos of how they listen to farm radio.

Film maker and NAFB allied industry member Conrad Weaver of ConjoStudios, LLC (Emmitsburg, MD) reports that his 2014 documentary the Great American Wheat Harvest film received a Mid-America Regional Emmy Award for Best Documentary – Cultural. “The Great American Wheat Harvest is a story about American harvesters who risk everything to put food on our tables. Each year they travel from Texas north across the Western Plains harvesting wheat and other crops that feed the world. The film follows their journey and tells their stories,” Conrad said. 

At the 2015 Indiana 4-H Congress in October, Gary Truitt, President of Hoosier Ag Today (HAT), presented the Indiana 4-H Foundation Communications Scholarship to Emily Clark, a 10-year 4-H member from Warrick County.  Held at the State Fairgrounds, the 4-H Congress attracted more than 90 of Indiana's top 4-H youth for a day of training and achievement awards. Emily said 4-H has changed her life. "It has changed me as a person, especially my communications skills. I am a quiet person, but 4-H taught me how to express myself in a positive way."  She is a college freshman at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, where she is majoring in communications.  

A crowd of more than 1,000 people packed the Orr Building in August on Ag Day at the Illinois State Fairgrounds to celebrate Illinois' number one industry. The morning started off with a breakfast, featuring the dedication of the Illinois Department of Agriculture administration building as the John R. Block Building. Illinois HB 5540, sponsored by State Senator Darin LaHood and State Representative Don Moffitt, named the administration building after John Rusling Block, the only Illinois agriculture director to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. John Block said he was both “excited and humbled” that the Illinois Department of Agriculture building now bears his name.

Farm Director Joe Gill (KASM, 1150 AM, Albany, MN) broadcast “live” from the Minnesota State Fair this year at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. He spoke with Minnesota Ag Commissioner Dave Frederickson. “We spoke about many issues including a recent trade trip to Mexico, Avian Influenza, pollinators and more,” Joe said. 

We are just 8 weeks away from the 72nd NAFB Convention, Growing our Future To Harvest Our Success! We have several great speakers and sessions this year. I'm pleased to announce Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Ajit Pai will be speaking Friday, November 13 from 11-Noon.

I want you to stop for just a moment and remember what it was like to be in high school or a recent college graduate. Who did you look up to? Who was the one person that took the time to sit down with you, talk about their career choice and help send you on the path you are on today?

Now that we are all a bit older, do we take the time to be that? During the past couple of weeks, we have all been on the road at different farm shows and state fairs. From the pictures shared on social media, many of us are taking that moment to reach out and talk to the future broadcasters.  

Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today Network, Zionsville, IN) spent much of August at the Indiana State Fair, but this is not unusual, he has been doing it for the past 31 years.  Founder of the statewide radio network Hoosier Ag Today, Gary attended his first State Fair in 1985. "I was in a trailer parked just outside the swine barn doing my broadcasting over a telephone line," he remembers. “This was before satellites and the Internet so there was literally a copper wire that ran to almost every radio station in the state that carried my live reports.” Today, Gary and his team of HAT reporters use wireless technology to produce and distribute digital audio reports to their network. He’s been an eyewitness to the transformation of the fair over the past three decades.

The United Soybean Board (USB) completed its annual summer See for Yourself trade mission to China, which for the first time also included Vietnam. Ten soybean growers from around the country were joined by three USB board members and USB staff along with two ag media representatives, a print journalist and STARadio Farm Director Jim Dewey (WTAD, Quincy, IL). The trip began with a visit to a DuPont facility in St. Louis, MO, on July 30. The group departed the next morning on an early flight to Chicago followed by a 14-hour non-stop trip to Shanghai, China. The Shanghai visit included a trip to a fish farm and a visit from the Deputy Director of the U. S. Consulate Agriculture Trade Office in Shanghai, Zach Henderson. 

A new book chronicling the life and broadcast career of Larry Steckline, written by his current wife, Carla Stovall Steckline, former Kansas Attorney General, she also shares her professional life, their courtship and her exit from politics. The book offers a comprehensive look at challenges Larry overcame and achievements he attained in his 50 years of farm broadcasting in Kansas. The book cover says about Larry, “He grew up using an outhouse, became an ag broadcasting powerhouse, was an invited guest at the White House, and now lives in a penthouse – this is the story of Larry Steckline, the ‘farmer's friend.’”Carla said, “We are selling this book on www.larrysteckline.com on behalf of local National Association of FFA chapters. The entire $20 purchase price is being donated to FFA because Larry wants to give back to the agricultural community that made him – personally and professionally – the man he is.”