AgWired

Farm broadcasters gathered around the big conference room table at USDA this morning for their exclusive press conference as part of the NAFB Washington Watch program.

Besides meeting with Sec. of Ag Johanns, and newly sworn in Deputy Sec. Conner, the group of farm broadcasters heard from other USDA officials like Bruce Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jim Little, Administrator, Farm Service Agency, Ross Davidson, Administrator, Risk Management Agency, Tim Ryan, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development, Keith Collins, Chief Economist, J. P. Penn, Under Secretary for Farm & Foreign Ag Services, William Hawks, Under Secretary for Marketing & Regulatory Programs and Ron DeHaven, Administrator, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service.

After 31 years at USDA, Larry Quinn, Assistant Director of Communications, has worked for 11 different Secretaries of Agriculture. At the NAFB Washington Watch dinner he spent some time reviewing the many changes that have taken place in the communications field since he started at the department.

Larry has been instrumental in assisting farm broadcasters with the Washington Watch program for many years. Tomorrow he’s arranged for us all to visit USDA and we’re prepped for a major announcement by Sec. Johanns.

Another Chairman of this year’s NAFB Washington Watch is Ken Root, WHO. Ken is a past NAFB president and executive director who’s now back on the air on WHO.

Here Ken’s interviewing Larry Mitchell, CEO of the American Corn Growers Association.

The lunch sponsor at NAFB’s Washington Watch was the National Cattlemens Beef Association, NCBA. Of course we had steak!

Jay Truitt was on hand to welcome the farm broadcasters attending and mention his past experience as one himself. He said that his daughter would tell her school teacher that Daddy talked to farmers and drank coffee. Sounds like a farm broadcaster description to me.

One of the Chairmen of this year’s NAFB Washington Watch is Tom Brand, KFEQ. Tom got things started today at the opening luncheon by welcoming the 33 farm broadcasters in attendance as well as the various organizational representatives.

Tom is also a past president of NAFB.

Tommorow the NAFB group will attend a USDA briefing at which Ag Secretary, Mike Johanns, is expected to make a big announcement. At least that’s what the press release USDA put out late Friday said.

JOHANNS TO MAKE MAJOR NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT

WHEN: Monday, May 02, 2005, 9:10 a.m. EDT

I’ll be there and post what we find out right here as soon as I can. I should have the audio available to listen to depending on what type of access they have available. You’d think it would be pretty good. However, at this Hyatt hotel I’m in, I’ve been having some technical problems accessing our web server via their high speed wireless access. It’s not making me happy.

If you’ve ever been to a National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) fall convention you’re familiar with Trade Talk. It’s a trade show where companies and organizations set up booths and staff them with representatives who are available to be interviewed by the broadcasters who attend.

Here at the NAFB Washington Watch they have a small version of that called the Issues Forum. Instead of elaborate booths though, companies and organizations who are very involved in legislative issues have tables that are staffed with representatives available for interviews on these types of topics. It’s much less product and service oriented.

The Issues Forum takes place this afternoon, sandwiched in between a morning board meeting and professional improvement session, followed by a banquet tonight.