by Cyndi on July 19, 2010
News release sent out today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brownfield Ag News website features American Ag in Afghanistan
Jefferson City, Mo (July 14, 2010) – Former Brownfield Ag News Farm Broadcaster Peter N. Shinn, Captain, Iowa Air National Guard, a member of the 734th Agri-Business Development Team (ADT) which will soon deploy to Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, is documenting the team’s experiences on the Brownfield Ag News website.
“Captain Shinn is a talented journalist and we are delighted that he is documenting the experiences of the 734th ADT to share with our listeners and viewers,” said Cyndi Young, Brownfield Ag News Farm Director.
“The 734th ADT is the first-ever Joint Iowa Army and Iowa Air National Guard unit to be deployed overseas. The ADT is deploying to Afghanistan’s Kunar Province for approximately one year,” Captain Shinn said. “The mission of the ADT is to provide training and advice to Afghan universities, provincial ministries, and local farmers with the goal of providing increased stability and improved opportunities for Afghanistan’s reemerging agribusiness sector. The overall goal is to help protect the population by increasing their food security. The ADT is a self-contained volunteer unit composed of more than 60 Iowa Army National Guard and Iowa Air National Guard members with backgrounds and expertise in various sectors of the agribusiness field.”
American Ag in Afghanistan is featured in the Special Reports section on the Brownfield Ag News website.
The Agri-Business Development Team’s Facebook page also contains photos and updates on the mission.
Brownfield, founded in 1972, includes Brownfield Ag News and Waitt Agribusiness radio networks and Brownfieldagnews.com. Brownfield products provide news, markets, weather, event coverage and feature and commentary programming relevant to those who live and work on farms and in rural communities in the United States, and to those with an interest in U.S. food and fiber production. Brownfield has contractual partnerships with more than 300 affiliate radio stations in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska and South Dakota that carry Brownfield radio programming.
Brownfield’s “Agriculture Today” is a free daily e-mail newsletter from Brownfield providing readers with a snapshot of what is happening in agriculture. With Brownfield Mobile farmers have instant access to customized weather and futures markets prices, as well as the latest agriculture news and unique audio updates. Farmers can register to receive customized market information via text message when they sign up for Brownfield Mobile Text Alerts.
A team of nine 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.
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by Cyndi on July 16, 2010
Former Brownfield Team member, Captain Peter Shinn, Iowa Air National Guard, is a member of the Iowa National Guard’s 734th Agri-Business Development Team. He’ll be heading to Afghanistan very soon. Dave Russell visited Pete on the Purdue University Campus yesterday where the team was undergoing more training. I asked Dave to send something about his visit for this blog. I think this says it all:
Cyndi –
I’m actually at a loss for words on what to say about Pete and the other members of these ADT units, other than they are volunteers going to a very difficult part of the world to make a difference in people’s lives. Let’s not forget them.
-Dave Russell
Captain Peter Shinn National Guard ADT with Dave Russell
Follow Captain Shinn and the ADT on the Brownfield Website.
Brownfield’s former Omaha-based team member, Pete Shinn, has been busy since he left agricultural communications. Pete has served as Faculty Advisor for the Academy of Military Science at McGhee Tyson ANGB near Knoxville, Tennessee for the past 11 months.
This video captures the essence of what our friend is up to these days. Whether you remember his work as an ag journalist or not, this is well worth watching!
by Cyndi on October 21, 2008
Peter Shinn at work
In August, Pete left his position as Waitt Agribusiness Farm Director on the
Brownfield Ag News team. Why? Because the National Guard Bureau notified him of their intention to activate him for a period of four years. Pete is now serving as Faculty Advisor for the Academy of Military Science at McGhee Tyson ANGB near Knoxville, Tennessee. (For more detail on his position, you can
read the post where we announced this activation.)
We remember a kinder, gentler Pete than the one shown in this picture. My favorite caption to go with this photo comes from Brownfield’s Bob Meyer:
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE THE CROP PROGRESS REPORT YET?"
by Cyndi on August 1, 2008
Peter Shinn
Good morning everyone,
I have bittersweet news to share. Peter Shinn, Waitt Agribusiness Farm Director and member of the Brownfield Ag News team, is moving on.
In addition to being a talented and passionate journalist, Pete is a dedicated member of the United States Air National Guard. Pete notified me of his decision last week and submitted these comments in his letter of resignation:
“The National Guard Bureau has notified me of their intention to activate me for a period of four years starting on 11 August 2008. I am to serve as a Faculty Advisor for the Academy of Military Science at McGhee Tyson ANGB near Knoxville, Tennessee.”
“AMS is the Air National Guard’s officer accession/commissioning program. Put another way, it’s basic training for prospective Air National Guard officers, who are commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants upon completion of the program, which as an AMS graduate myself, I can tell you is extremely challenging. As far as I know, the Air National Guard is the only component of the Armed Forces who task officers to provide training to their future officers, so AMS is a truly unique institution. I’m deeply honored to be picked to serve on its faculty.”
“Likewise, it’s a great honor to serve with the best team in all of farm broadcasting, the Brownfield family. It’s good and important work that we do. I will miss not only that work, but the sense of commitment to agriculture that is such a clear core value of the Brownfield/Learfield organization. While, for a variety of reasons, I feel I must honor the National Guard Bureau’s call to active duty, I do so with a deep appreciation for all that we do to help our nation continue to feed itself, and much of the world.”
We will miss Pete, but are very proud of him and support his decision one hundred percent.
-Cyndi Young
by Cyndi on June 24, 2008
Peter Shinn
Whew. Who has time to read AND comprehend more than 1700 pages of information included in the Food and Energy Security Act of 2008? So I asked
Pete Shinn to put together a "cheat sheet" for me, featuring highlights and talking points. It is too good not to share with you. Still, Pete wants to make sure everyone understands this is a brief overview:
"It’s a measure of the new farm bill’s complexity that the above discussion represents "highlights," and is very, very far from being a comprehensive run-down of the spending, programs and legislative changes that are actually contained within the document, which runs more than 1,700 pages."
[click to continue…]
Group
Our Omaha, Nebraska-based team member
Pete Shinn is visiting the
Brownfield Ag News headquarters in Jefferson City, Missouri this week. Although we all communicate throughout the day via email and telephone, it is a treat to be
together from time to time.
The team enjoyed dinner and conversation at a local restaurant last evening.
(Pictured L-R: Tom Steever, Julie Harker, Mike Cady, Kari McKinney, Katie Allen, Cyndi Young, and Peter Shinn)
Peter Shinn doing an interview
I hope you were able to listen to some of Pete Shinn’s reports from Washington, D.C. this week. Each year, the National Association of Farm Broadcasters holds a Washington Watch event. Over the course of a couple of days, broadcasters meet with various newsmakers in the D.C. area to get the most recent news on issues of interest to farmers and other listeners. Pete filed I don’t know how many
reports from D.C.
Thanks to NAFB Executive Director Bill O’Neill for sending along some photos of our Pete in action!
by Cyndi on March 18, 2008
Brownfield Affilliate Relations Manager Mike Cady paid a visit Monday night to Waitt Agribusiness Farm Director Peter Shinn at his home office in Omaha Monday, but not without a little trouble. Pete lives in Midtown Omaha, which is, shall we say, a transitional neighborhood, where some blocks are nice, and some blocks not so nice. Mike ended up in the parking lot of a bar in a not-so-nice block and figured Mapquest had given him the wrong directions, so he called Pete.
"Mike calls me and tells me, ‘I think I’m in the wrong neighborhood,’" Pete recounted. "And I told him, ‘Oh no, you’re right on track. If you want, I’ll walk down and get you.’"
So Mike found his way to Pete’s home office, which is on a nice block, by the way, and Mike was actually a few minutes early. That turned out to be a problem for Pete, who hadn’t yet changed out, shall we say, more casual attire.
[click to continue…]
by Cyndi on March 4, 2008
Pete Shinn is leaving Las Vegas (National Farmers Union meeting) and headed to Washington D.C. (WIREC.) He sent this missive a few minutes ago:
The National Farmers Union picked a heckuva spot for their annual convention.Five minutes in Las Vegas is enough to make you strongly doubt any media reports you may have heard about an economic downturn in American. People are here to spend money, and the entire infrastructure of this city is designed to take it from them. Of course, there certainly is no downturn in the farm economy, and it’s been a year of successes for National Farmers Union, which began taking an increasingly significant role in the farm bill talks since Democrats won control of Congress in November of 2006. NFU members here are celebrating that combination of prosperity and heightened influence on Capitol Hill, and it’s made for a fun annual meeting! Oh, and there’s been no shortage of news, as the NFU convention drew House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, and U.S. Ag Secretary Ed Schafer, the first time a USDA chief has come to an NFU annual meeting since Dan Glickman in 2000. It’s off to D.C. now for me, where cabinet-level officials from more than 70 countries are gathering for the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, or WIREC. I won’t make there it in time to catch Secretary Schafer address that meeting today. But the word is that President Bush will address WIREC tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.
