Category Archives: Ag organizations

I have to wonder. . .

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I have to wonder just how hard Tom Steever and Ken Anderson were working at Cattle Industry Conference, when these pictures showed up mysteriously in my inbox. 

Tom explains that the first picture was taken when he was addressing a general session at Cattle Industry Convention: 

In case the context of the first shot is elusive, I told the audience during my ‘market cast’ at the general session that my friends would never believe that I’d spoken to so many people. I pulled out my camera and this is the result.

Tom is playing with the camera again.  This one just might be my favorite:

Honestly,  I know how hard they are working because I’ve listened to the radio reports and read the stories they have posted.  You can catch some of the coverage on the Brownfield website.

He’s everywhere!

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Everywhere!  That’s where Brownfield Ag News Tom Steever is this week.  Tom started the week in Las Vegas at the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) where he moderated the special awards banquet.  We have proof he was there, as he sent this picture that he took from the podium:

There is also this picture of a rather strange looking dessert that was served. . .

And apparently he did have his journalist cap on while there, because there is a picture of Tom interviewing NACD President Gene Schmidt.

 From Vegas, Tom flew to Nashville, Tennessee for the Cattle Industry Convention (CIC) where Brownfield’s Ken Anderson was already hard at work covering the event. (Brownfield’s coverage of CIC is sponsored once again this year by Novartis Animal Health.) 

Tom, as President of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) brought greetings to the CIC from NAFB and from Brownfield. Thanks to Chuck Zimmeran with AgWired for sharing this picture of Tom at the very large and interesting microphone podium. . .

Bob’s other career

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Brownfield’s Wisconsin Farm Director Bob Meyer is multi-talented, but who knew that he was a play-by-play announcer for donkey basketball?

According to Bob, more than 800 people attended donkey basketball at Loyal High School Monday night. Put on by the Loyal FFA and the Granton FFA, the first game saw the Loyal FFA beat the Loyal Fire Department. The second game saw the Granton Fire Department defeat the Granton FFA. The Granton Fire Department then faced the Loyal FFA for the overall world championship…the Granton Fire Department won 10-7 and a “fast-paced” game.

Congrats to Pedro’s Angus!

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The 2012 Ohio Cattlemen’s Industry Excellence Award is sponsored by Brownfield Ag News.  Ohio Brownfield Farm Director Dave Russell presented the award to Bill and Bev Roe, Pedro’s Angus at the 2012 Ohio Cattlemen’s Association Awards Banquet.

 

NAFB happenings

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Brownfield’s Meghan Grebner was busy with National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Board responsibilities early this week.  Here’s her look back at the week:

Tom Steever and I spent the first part of this week in St. Louis for our NAFB Board Meeting ahead of the NAFB Agribusiness Luncheon on Tuesday.

Aside from all the board “duties” we have a chance to socialize and spend time with our fellow board members. Monday evening Osborn and Barr hosted the board at their St. Louis office for a nice “welcome to St. Louis reception.” Following the reception we walked to Mike Shannon’s restaurant. For those that don’t know – Mike Shannon is a former 3rd baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals (’62 to ’70), spent nearly 30 years alongside Jack Buck in the broadcast booth and is now the current lead voice of the St. Louis Cardinals. I’ll be honest – I’m not a Cardinals fan (and no – just because I’m from Illinois doesn’t mean I’m a Cubs fan, either… I’m actually a San Francisco Giants fan). Shannon happened to be in the restaurant Monday evening and stopped by our table to chat. As soon as I heard his voice… I knew it was him. Tom and I took the opportunity to have our picture taken with him (how often does a girl have the chance to have her picture taken with two iconic voices it he broadcast industry?!)

Tuesday NAFB hosted the Agribusiness Luncheon and it provided an opportunity for some networking and socializing. Brownfield Ag News was  well represented with Laurie Bonnot, John Baker and Anita Vanderwert, members of the NAFB Management and Sales Council as well as Tom Steever and Meghan Grebner, NAFB Broadcast Council members. 

Tom did a fantastic job emceeing the luncheon (as always) and introducing the speaker Charlie Brennan.

Brennan has been with KMOX for over 20 years and regularly appears on KETC-TVs “Donnybrook”.

The NAFB staff with the huge help from Mike Orso (Osborn & Barr) did a fabulous job putting together this year’s NAFB Agribusiness Luncheon.

What to pack

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This just in from the Easternmost Brownfield Ag News office:

This time of year I never really know what to pack when covering various meetings around the country. So you can imagine how much I appreciated seeing this from the ASI Weekly as I was beginning to think about what to pack for the American Sheep Industry Convention in Scottsdale, AZ this week –

The long-range weather forecast for Scottsdale shows sunny skies with the day-time highs in the low 70′s and night-time lows in the mid-40′s. This is perfect weather for your light wools!

That helps, thanks for the suggestion.

-Dave Russell, Ohio Brownfield Farm Director

Hats off to you!

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Indiana Brownfield Ag News is pleased to once again sponsor the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Friend of Conservation Award.  Meghan Grebner was there to present the 2012 award:

1st Row, Left to Right: Bill Mann (Presenter), Jeff Mann, Terri Michaelis and Jerry Sweeten (of Manchester College) 2nd Row, Left to Right: Veronica Johnson (Elanco), Meghan Grebner (sponsor, Brownfield Ag News), Danielle Walker, Jim Straeter.

Nebraska Brownfield teams up with Ag Classic 2012

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Nebraska Brownfield Ag News was pleased to help sponsor the annual Nebraska Ag Classic conference this year!  Ken Anderson had this to say about it:

Ag Classic is the joint meeting of several groups including the NE AgRelations Council, NE Corn Board, NE Corn Growers Association, NE Farm Business, Inc., NE Grain & Feed Association, NE Grain Sorghum Producers Association, NE Grain Sorghum Board, NE LEAD Alumni Association, NE Soybean Association, NE Soybean Board, NE Wheat Board and NE Wheat Growers Association.

As the sponsor of the Tuesday evening Ag Classic banquet, we had the opportunity to talk about the Nebraska Brownfield radio network, which provides agricultural news, weather and markets to some 33 AM and FM radio stations across the state. We work with some great “hometown” radio stations in cities and towns like Fairbury, Hastings, Fremont, O’Neill, McCook, North Platte and Chadron—just to name a few.

And, of course, Nebraska Brownfield is part of the Brownfield Radio Network, the largest ag radio network in America, covering 8 states and over 300 radio stations.

We encouraged Ag Classic attendees to visit our website, Brownfieldagnews.com, one of the most popular agricultural web sites in the country. We also reminded them about our free, daily, email newsletter called Agriculture Today and explained how they can receive Brownfield Mobile updates on their smart phones by simply downloading the Brownfield Mobile app.

Nebraska Brownfield is dedicated to serving Nebraska farmers and ranchers—and we were pleased to play a larger role in this year’s Nebraska Ag Classic.

Hard at work in Hawaii. . .

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The American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting is underway in Honolulu this week.  Brownfield’s Tom Steever is there.  Brownfield’s Ohio Farm Director, Dave Russell, shares this:

“So, I send Tom Steever an email thanking him for the interview with Ohio Farm Bureau Federation President Steve Hirsh and mentioned he should get back to the beach. His reply, “too late,” and here’s the proof. Before I say anything about Tom’s legs, I’m going to work up a story from the interview. . .”

That sounds like a good story, but we all know Tom well enough to know that he wouldn’t “hit the beach” until the work was done.  Or in this case, Tom and his wife took a little pre-convention vacation time to explore the Hawaiin islands together.  I’m 99.9% certain this picture was taken before American Farm Bureau Federation Convention began!

Spending the day with Aunt Meghan

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We are a big family at Brownfield Ag News, and we love to include other family members in our Brownfield activities.  Meghan Grebner had the opportunity to do just that last week-end, thanks to our friends at Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council:

I’ve talked about my family before – and you can probably figure out we’re pretty close. In fact – my cousin Carin and I spent so much time together growing up we really look at each other more like sisters than cousins. Her kids – Dalaney and Owen actually refer to me as “Aunt Meghan”.

When I was offered the job in Indiana I was so excited to have the opportunity to work with some really amazing people and work for a great company – but I also knew in the back of my mind I’d be within an hour or so of Carin and her family – and that pretty much sealed the deal.

One of the things I have always loved about my job is some of the interesting people I get to meet and the fun things I have the chance to do. Over the years I’ve met some pretty famous people, singers, actors, politicians… Mike Rowe and have gone some pretty neat places, too. Owen is 8 and he’s pretty inquisitive. He always asks me where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to lately. A lot of times those conversations end in “NO Fair!“ and “That’s cool!”

I had the opportunity to attend the Colts game this past weekend with Megan Kuhn from the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and she said I could invite a guest… I knew exactly who I wanted to ask… It was Owen. I may have spoiled any other NFL game Owen will attend for the rest of his life. He was able to go on the sidelines prior to the game and was within arm’s length of players and coaches.

 

Apparently Owen was pretty excited – Carin said he was telling his dad all about our adventure all the way home Sunday night. Now, Owen gets to tell stories that people say “NO Fair” and “That’s cool!” when he’s finished.

I am so thankful for the opportunity that Megan gave me to become the world’s coolest “Aunt” – at least for a little while.