Bob Flider was named director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture in February. The Mt. Zion, Illinois native served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2003 through 2011.

Brownfield affiliate radio station WFMB’s Farm Director Steve Bridge gave members of the Illinois Ag Media a little demonstration on how to properly make an omelet before the meeting began.  Karen Fraase with Marketing and Promotion at the Illinos Department of Agriculture is helping Steve, but as you can see from the picture, this is not his first time.

Milk is the drink of champions at the Indy 500.  It all started when Louis Meyer, the winner of the 1936 Indianapolis 500, was photographed gulping down a bottle of buttermilk, his favorite drink.  The 96th running of the Indy 500 takes place on May 27 and Indiana dairy farmers are gearing up for it.  This morning in Indianapolis, Brownfield’s Meghan Grebner met with dairy farmers who will be handing off the bottle of milk to the Indy 500 winner.  Duane Hill owns and operates Mayhill Holsteins in Fountain City, IN and David Forgey owns River-View Dairy Farms on the banks of the Wabash River near Logansport, IN.

Sign up to attend and use the Brownfield listener discount code (BFDL) to save $100 off the retail price of $350 registration fee. With your Brownfield discount, just $250!

Brownfield Ag News is a sponsor of this event.  Hope to see you there!

http://agwired.com/2012/04/22/nama-2012-agribusiness-leader-of-the-year/

So, I’m talking to a farmer friend over the weekend –

My farmer-friend says, “I’d like to know who though it was a good idea to put the cup holder on the right side of the (tractor) cab. One of these day’s I’m going to spill my Cappuccino on 50 electronic switches.”

Whatever happened to carrying a water jug and sitting it between your legs or having a thermos with Maxwell House instant coffee tucked away in the toolbox?

Two graduates of the South Dakota State University broadcast journalism program currently hold top leadership positions in farm broadcasting organizations.

Tom Steever is president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB), while Ken Anderson serves as president of the NAFB Foundation.

Both are employed by Brownfield Ag News as agricultural reporters and news anchors.

Steever, a native of Lennox, South Dakota, earned his degree in broadcast journalism from SDSU in 1975 and began his farm broadcast career at KSOO Radio in Sioux Falls. After 19 years with KSOO, Steever became executive director of the Sioux Falls Stockyards. In 1997, he moved to Chicago to anchor Channel Earth on DirecTV. From there, Steever joined the American Farm Bureau Federation public relations department in Park Ridge, Illinois, and in 2003 he became part of the Brownfield broadcast team in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Anderson is a native of Clark, South Dakota and a 1977 graduate of the SDSU broadcast journalism program. His broadcasting career started at KRVN Radio in Lexington, Nebraska, where he spent 12 years. He worked in communications and marketing for regional seed company NC+ Hybrids for 15 years, followed by public relations/account management stints with two Nebraska-based marketing communications firms. Anderson returned to farm broadcasting with Brownfield in 2008. He is based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

NAFB is a professional organization for farm broadcasters, and also includes farm broadcasting management, sales, and allied industry supporters. Its mission is to lead, promote, and support growth in agricultural and rural broadcasting for the benefit of its members, audience, and industry.

The NAFB Foundation is the nonprofit charitable and educational arm of NAFB.

Brownfield, founded in 1972, includes Brownfield Ag News radio networks and Brownfieldagnews.com. Brownfield has contractual partnerships with 350 affiliate radio stations in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska and South Dakota that carry Brownfield radio programming.

Brownfield offers “Agriculture Today,” a free daily e-mail newsletter providing readers with a snapshot of what is happening in agriculture. Brownfield Mobile provides the top news headlines and ag market information, a weather radar map customized to your area, and the ability to listen to grain and livestock reports all from your smart phone. Brownfield Mobile Text Alerts keep subscribers updated with customized commodity information. Listeners and readers may also stay informed on Brownfield’s Twitter account. Brownfield’s Blog offers a peek behind the scenes.

A team of ten agricultural journalists, all Broadcast Council members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, along with an ag meteorologist, Washington D.C. policy analyst and two market analysts are solely responsible for the creation of the Brownfield Ag News products.

Indiana State Director of Agriculture Joe Kelsay tries his hand at reporting with owner of Grandpa Jay’s Pork, Jay Hawley of Kirklin, Ind.

Kind of… I wanted to take a picture of Jay with his Grandpa Jay’s pork cooler at the Indiana Artisan Marketplace this afternoon and Joe kindly obliged to hold my microphone and recorder so I could snap a few pictures… The Director always does such a great job in an interview – I couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab the photo with him on the other side of the mic!