Greetings from Boone, Iowa. With the legislative recess underway I had the chance to escape DC for a few weeks. It's been a pleasure taking in some wide open spaces, including the Farm Progress show.   

Our summer board meeting was held July 23-25, in Salinas, California.The NAFB board ventured west in an effort to expand awareness of NAFB in the region. The trip included a couple farm tours and lessons on California agriculture. The annual summer board meeting was planned by the NAFB office staff, but the AgNet West (Gary Cooper, Sabrina Hill and Taylor Hillman) team handled the majority of the planning and organizing. A big thank you to each of them for their help.

Photos from the Summer Board Meeting held in Salinas, California, July 23-25.

Be sure to be part of the NAFB Convention this year. President-Elect Susan Littlefield has put together a great agenda including, a legislative round table, agriculture technology updates and a foot-and-mouth disease communications session. 

Michigan Farm Radio Network (MFRN) continued its gnome tradition for the second year at the Michigan Ag Expo. Its’s the perfect way to meet listeners during the annual Michigan Ag Expo.

NAFB included questions in the AMR Corn Belt Study this past spring. A few highlights from the study include: 

• 89% of all farmers in the Corn Belt with $100,000 GFI listen to the radio for farm markets, weather or farm news report in general
• Daily farm radio listeners
  • 62% of all farmers surveyed listen daily to the radio 
  • 89% of all farmers surveyed listen three or more days per week 

While NAFB business meetings in recent years have been short and void of controversy, that hasn't always been the case. Those of us who remember meetings in the 70's, 80's and 90's remember long, emotional debates with members standing in line at microphones waiting to speak. Many of those debates centered around membership qualifications but that was by no means a new topic of discussion. At the organization's very first meeting in 1944, the question of membership qualifications was discussed at length

The NAFB membership is growing. Please help us welcome several new and honorary members to the association.

Update from the John Harvey Hootenanny

I gave a number of radio and TV interviews at the John Harvey Hootenanny.  We had a long line of Classic Tractors, two from Maryland and others from throughout the Midwest.” He continued,  “Two men brought a New Holland self-propelled machine that we'd featured on the calendar, and they drove all night to get to the event.  One collector attended who had had major heart surgery a few days before.  They are a good, gritty breed; unpretentious goodness is spread all around.” 

Terry Henne (WSGW, Saginaw, MI) awarded "Homemaker of the Year" awards at the Saginaw County Fair on July 29. The contest is sponsored by WSGW Radio and Michigan Sugar Company. The Homemaker of the Year will go to the Michigan state finals next June. “Incidentally, the last two winners have gone to the state contest and won,” Terry said. 

Congratulations to NAFB member Sarah Gustin and Richie Heinrich. Sarah and Richie were married June 27 in a small country church just three miles from the Gustin family farm near St. Anthony, ND.