Brownfield

Alice in Dairyland

Alice in Dairyland?  Don't you mean Alice in Wonderland?  No.  If you are a Wisconsin, you know that Alice is one of the most recognizable spokespersons of Wisconsin agriculture.  Alice in Dairyland is a public relations professional working for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She travels throughout the state, nation and world to promote Wisconsin products to audiences of all ages, educating the media, youth and civic groups about the many facets of the state's agricultural industry. 

Brownfield's Bob Meyer has worked with the Alice program for many years.  When Wisconsin selected a new Alice in Dairyland last week, Bob Meyer was there.  I asked him to tell us a little bit about his involvement over the years:

I have been involved with the Alice in Dairyland program for a long time.  Over the years, I have interviewed “Alice” on numerous occasions.  I have been on the preliminary selection panel once and the final selection panel once.  I have emceed the finale program twice.  Counties bid to host the finals so it moves around the state each year.  This year we were in Racine County, next year it will be in Rock County.

In 1993 we decided to do our morning “Daybreak” program live from the Alice in Dairyland finals and feature the then-ten finalists.  Starting at 5 a.m., the candidates sat down to the microphone to talk about themselves and why they wanted to be “Alice”.   That first broadcast originated from the headquarters hotel on Friday morning of the finals and the judges listened to the live broadcast in their hotel rooms.  In 1998, the broadcast was moved to Thursday morning to accommodate an on-the-farm dairy breakfast scheduled for Friday morning.  Over the years, the broadcast originated from hotels, radio stations and even the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture one time.  Because of some logistics problems in 2006, the interviews were pre-recorded on Wednesday for airing on Thursday morning of the finals.  With the end of the “Daybreak” program in June of 2008,  this year the interviews were recorded on Wednesday and posted on the Brownfield website.

One of the great aspects of this program is these are people who become heavily involved in agriculture  which means in most cases, you will see them often down the road.  Just to give you an idea of where some of the former Alices are now:  Debbie Crave and her family will host Wisconsin Farm Technology Days this year on their farm.  Lisa Behnke runs the media room at World Dairy Expo, Shari Hicken is the P.R. person for Wollersheim Winery, Jill Makovec is an account executive for Learfield we have even sent some to other states in an effort to upgrade the world, Amy Fischer is a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

-Bob Meyer

The new Alice in Dairyland is Cheryl O’Brien of Eastman, Wisconsin. 

 

A visit from Bunceton High School

A group of students from Bunceton High School spent the morning visiting Learfield Communications, Brownfield’sparent company, finding out a little more about what we do here and visiting with some of our employees.  Clyde Lear, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Learfield, gave the students a tour of our offices including our Information Technology (IT) Department, News Division, Sports Division, and Technical Services offices.  Once the tour concluded the students heard from Charlie Peters, Vice President, Technical Services; Tom Boman, Broadcast Manager, Learfield Sports; Phil Atkinson, Vice President, Information Technology; Cyndi Young, Farm Director, Brownfield; Tom Steever, Brownfield Farm Broadcaster; Anita Vanderwert,  Account Executive, News Division; and Jeff Martin, Director of Human Resources.  Each one of the guest speakers spoke to the students about a variety of topics ranging from what they liked about their job to internships and interviewing tips for the students. After the guest speakers, the students were off to grab some lunch and then back to school. It was great to have the students visit the office and I really hope they enjoyed their time with us!

-Kari McKinney

NAFB Foundation Board looking to the future

For many years, I have been a part of what I consider a very special group of people with a very special mission.  The National Association of Farm Broadcasting Foundation has, in my opinion, accomplished some great things in the past.  We fund scholarships and internship grants as well as research and the creation of educational materials to promote the future of agricultural communications - specifically ag broadcasting.  We held a board meeting last Tuesday evening, prior to the kick-off of NAFB Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Our fearless leader (President of the Foundation) Taylor Brown from Northern Ag Network in Billings, Montana could not be with us as he was recently elected to serve as a state senator and had some training sessions to attend.  So as Vice President, I chaired a meeting that included discussion and ultimately approval of some major policy changes that include changes in board size, term limits, and representation.  It's all very different and very exciting as we implement some of those changes suggested by those who have worked with us in strategic planning.

Pictured left to right:  George Logan, J/G Enterprises, Tecumseh, Kansas;  Greg Akagi, NAFB President-Elect, Topeka, Kansas;  Ken Anderson, Brownfield Ag News/Waitt Agribusiness, Lincoln, Nebraska; Terry Henne, Foundation Treasurer, Saginaw, Michigan; Randy Koenen, NAFB President, Grand Forks, North Dakota; Dave Knau, Foundation Secretary, Pioneer/DuPont, Johnston, Iowa; Rich Hull, Sun Lakes, Arizona; Cyndi Young, Foundation V.P. (that's me!); Hugh Whaley, Foundation V.P, Osborn & Barr Communications, St. Louis, Missouri.

NAFB Foundation Scholarship winners recognized

The National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention is underway in Kansas City.  As Vice President of the NAFB Foundation, I had the opportunity to introduce the 2008 NAFB Foundation Scholarship winners during the Foundation Luncheon today. 

Katie Allen who worked on the Brownfield team and is now a graduate student at Texas Tech University is our $5,000 Glen Kummerow Scholarship recipient.  Rachel Moten, a junior at the University of Missouri and Katie Amerel, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas were recipients of the $4,000 scholarships.

Katie Allen's Mom and Dad were here to participate in the festivities.  Congratulations Katie!

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer offered remarks at the luncheon.

Sea of humanity in blue and gold

Dave here, checking in from the 81st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. What an event, thousands of FFA members, agribusiness people, government types, it’s a sea of humanity.

I had the opportunity to judge, along with Jim Kinnett of Monsanto, the Ag Sales Career Development Event again this year, I believe this is the third year I’ve judged this contest, but looking back, I judged my first National FFA Contest in 1979 and if memory serves me correctly, I judged with another Brownfield farm broadcaster, Tom Steever. Both Tom and I were just kids at the time.

One of the students competing in the Ag Sales CDE was a foreign exchange student from Russia, Yekaterina Grishina, thank goodness she said we could call her Kate. She did a great job and after I was finished with the judging I interviewed Kate, I’ll share that interview later.

Ag Secretary Ed Schafer is scheduled to address the convention Friday morning and I’ll be there. Until then, be watching and listening for Brownfield’s coverage of the National FFA Convention.

NAFB Foundation Auction around the corner

It is hard to believe the the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention is a little more than a month away.  We are all looking forward to seeing industry friends and having the opportunity to re-tool a bit while there.

One of the highlights for me is the NAFB Foundation’s annual fundraising auction.  I am Co-Chair of the auction, along with Gene Hemphill from New Holland. 

This past week-end, my husband and I enjoyed the purchase I made during the 2007 auction.  Pioneer Hi-Bred generously donated a "NASCAR Race week-end package" and I had the winning bid.

Kari goes to the Illinois State Fair

Oh. My. Gosh.  That is the only way I can describe my recent trip to the Illinois State Fair and I wasn’t even there while the fair was going on!  Tom Steever and I were on the fairgrounds for the 2008 Master Showmanship Contest on August 6-7. We were able to get a behind the scenes look at the fair since we were there the day before the opening ceremony.  During our first day on the fairgrounds, Tom was able to interview Dale Edwards, Jr. Swine Superintendent before we took part in the Master Showmanship Contest.  We were able to speak with the Jr. Champion Charolais Heifer winner and Jr. Livestock Superintendent Brian Sager on our second day.  Barb Adams, the Goat Superintendent, was nice enough to let us interview her about the increase of goat entries and then gave us the VIP tour of the fairgrounds in her golf cart on our way to meet up with Marla Behrends. Marla, the Industry Relations Manager for the Midwest Dairy Association, gave us a sneak peek of the Butter Cow in the Dairy Building since we had to leave before the 1:00 p.m. unveiling.  Words can’t really describe how amazing this thing looks! There are so many little details such as a family of skunks, a butterfly, birds, squirrels, acorns, and even a little snake.  I am telling you, this is a butter sculpture is something you have to see to believe. Tom and I even received a first hand demonstration on judging dairy products from some of the top Dairy Judges around. We even taste tested an ice cream pie! I had such a wonderful time and enjoyed meeting everyone.  If you get the chance to visit another state’s state fair, make sure you do.  Being able to experience the Illinois State Fair brought back so many wonderful memories of going to the Missouri State Fair and now I have new memories from the Illinois State Fair. Be sure to check out some of the photos we took while at the fair.  If you have some pictures that you would like to share, send them to us along with your name and where you are from and we will be sure to place them online.

-Kari McKinney, Brownfield Promotions Coordinator

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Illinois Master Showmanship Contest

Kari McKinney is the Brownfield team member who coordinates Brownfield's sponsorship and involvement in the Illinois Master Showmanship Contest.  She and Tom Steever had a fabulous time at the event, held earlier this week:

Brownfield is one of the many sponsors for the Illinois Master Showmanship Contest and every year the farm broadcasters are able to help out with making sure the contest runs smoothly.  On Wednesday, August 6th, Tom Steever and I traveled to Springfield, Illinois for this year’s contest.  Fifty-one participants, the most the contest has had in its 9 years, were divided into 6 groups to show beef, swine, and sheep in a round robin style after they took a written test.  I was in charge of rounding up the participants for the beef entry, while Tom was in the Sheep and Swine ring introducing each of the participants and entertaining the crowd. After the total scores were calculated, Tom and I were in charge of handing out the money to each of the participant ($50 cash) and being the first to congratulate each one of them on a great job showing.  It was wonderful to meet all the youth and to help out with the contest. I was saying before the contest started if I didn’t step in anything or get kicked by a cow (which didn’t happen!) that it was going to be a great night. But I am sure that even if that happened, I would have had the best time and one heck of a story!  To see a list of all the winners, check out our 2008 Illinois Master Showmanship page.

-Kari McKinney

Spotlight on ag youth

Dave Russell has been a busy Brownfielder this summer, traveling throughout the state of Indiana to present Indiana Ag Youth Awards in partnership with local Brownfield radio stations.   Documentation of the awards program project to is available on the Brownfield website Ag Youth page.  You'll find photos, audio of interviews and more on that page.

We are big believers in the next generation of agriculturalists and we realize that it takes a lot of community and parental support and encouragement to help guide them along the way. 

Congratulations to all involved!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Fairs and fair weather

The heat has been oppressive in regions of the Midwest in recent days, which means state fair season is underway!  The Brownfield team and our affiliate radio stations have been very busy already this summer with county fair activities.  Our state fair season kicks off in Wisconsin this week and concludes in Nebraska in early September.

Tammie Nichols, Marketing Director for the Missouri State Fair was in Brownfield Ag News headquarters in Jefferson City, Missouri last week.  Julie Harker interviewed both Tammie and Katie Allen, who in addition to working for Brownfield Ag News is the current Missouri State Fair Queen.

(Both Tyne Morgan and Katie Allen, Ag Journalism grads from University of Missouri worked for Brownfield Ag News at some point during their college years and both were crowned Missouri State Fair Queen.  Coincidence?  You tell me!)

Be sure to check our website and listen on-air for coverage of activities as the fair season continues.