Little Ridge Dairy near Ontario, WI, hosted the 35th Vernon County June Dairy Month Breakfast on the Eirik and Cheryl Eness family farm on Saturday, June 20. The Vernon County, Wisconsin, Dairy Promotion Committee asked the Eness family to host this year's breakfast on what was, until 1963, the Samuelson dairy farm. Orion Samuelson (WGN Radio, Chicago, IL) was invited to attend and speak to the guests. Despite a light rain for the first two hours, 2,500 people showed up to see a modern dairy farm operation and enjoy a good farm breakfast, including ice cream. Orion said he was no stranger to inclement weather since there was a blizzard the day he was born that left 14 inches of snow on the ground. The doctor never made it to the farm in time for his birth and his aunt saved the day serving as a midwife. 

Issues important to rural Americans, farmers, ranchers, and senior citizens will be the sole focus in a new series of live, one-hour, primetime programs featuring presidential candidates leading up to the caucus in Iowa, and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. In announcing this coverage on June 17, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Patrick Gottsch, Founder and President of Rural Media Group, said, “Rural America’s impact on national elections is undeniable. This is a tremendous opportunity for each candidate to address issues largely ignored by urban media, yet are so important to many of the citizens voting in these primaries.” He continued, "From day one, Rural Media Group's goal has been to reconnect city with country.

During this past year's convention I spoke with several members and the one topic mentioned several times was centered on what NAFB means to them and how it's an unique organization. The conversations were brought to the board as we developed our 2015 committees.

As current research proves, farm radio is a daily, valuable source of information for farmers and ranchers. We sat down with several producers to discuss their radio listening habits. Erik Younggren from Hallock, Minnesota sits down with NAFB and discusses the importance of farm radio for his operation. Videos are available on the NAFB YouTube Channel.

Julie Harker (Brownfield Ag News, Jefferson City, MO) has been covering agriculture and consumer news for Brownfield since 2007. This has included events in her home state of Missouri and beyond – from Washington, DC, to Germany. Also, she produces a daily, 90-second consumer education program, Healthy Living, aimed at informing consumers about food and nutrition, striving to dispel commonly held misconceptions about them.

While a Texas A&M University student, Don Atkinson (First Oklahoma Ag, Voice of Southwest Agriculture (VSA) and Yancey Ag Network, Oklahoma City, OK) had nearly 10 years of broadcasting experience under his belt when the on-campus office of the Extension Service hired him. Previously, he had worked as a disc jockey, news writer, copy writer and producer. Working in the Texas A&M radio-television unit, Don helped write and produce a weekly agricultural radio show for two years. 

During Washington Watch (April 27), The Doan award, honoring excellence in reporting agriculture, was awarded to Michelle Rook, managing farm director at WNAX (Yankton, SD). This is the inaugural year for The Doan. Presented by the NAFB Foundation, through a gift from Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., The Doan is named after Stewart Doan, a farm broadcaster and senior editor at Agri-Pulse, who passed away suddenly in May 2012. He was known for his passion for politics and determination for delivering breaking farm and rural policy news. Doan's reporting on issues affecting farmers and consumers is missed by the entire agriculture community. He served as NAFB president in 1998. 

The first NAFB Leadership Academy convened in Washington D.C. just prior to Washington Watch. Farm News Director Sabrina Hill (AgNet West Radio Network, Sanger, CA) wrote about her experience in a blog which we are excerpting here. “This was my first year attending Washington Watch. I was the only representative of California in the group, and it’s always fun for me to meet up with cohorts from the Midwest and other areas,” she said. “This year was also the inaugural NAFB leadership class, and I had the honor of being one of the nine people in the class.”

For many it's the sound bringing a meeting to order, but to farm broadcasters it's a representation of history. Commissioned by Ken Root (a farm broadcaster, past president and past NAFB executive director) the gavel is made with three distinct types of wood to represent the three NAFB regions; East is walnut, South is cyprus and West is pine. The handle is made of oak.

“February has been the coldest month on record for most of the Northeast. Many places across the region have endured record snowfall as well,” reports Tom Cassidy, (Ag Radio Network, Inc., Barneveld, NY). “Locally, we haven't seen a temperature above freezing since January 28, and there are none in the forecast. Snow can be moved, pushed or piled but there isn't much one can do to prepare for the wicked, bitter cold,” he added. “Water freezing has been a big problem on farms. Many places have had to dig for new water lines (and then insulate them) to their water source.” Fire companies are trucking water to some farms; bulk milk trucks are back-hauling water to others. Rural municipalities are having record numbers of water and sewer main breaks and frozen service entrances. “These cold temperatures are a true testament to the hardiness of farmers,” Tom said. “Livestock need to be fed, milked, cleaned up after and cared for, not to mention the extra work required in the deep freeze like equipment that doesn't want to work and snow to move.”