The passion for covering the industry is ingrained in the entire ag media group.
With a passion for agriculture and storytelling, the team at Ohio’s Country Journal and Ohio Ag Net regularly traverse the state sharing accounts of the lives and livelihoods of farmers and rural Ohioans.
The numerous responsibilities of the small but mighty group include publishing a twice-monthly ag newspaper, Ohio Ag Net programming on radio station affiliates throughout the state, as well as producing the Ohio Ag Net podcast and providing daily content at ocj.com.
The broadcast team includes general manager and long-time farm broadcaster Dale Minyo, broadcasters Dusty Sonnenberg, Dave Russell and Joel Penhorwood, who is also video manager and Beth Carper, who is in charge of network traffic. Laura Wuebker, a Darke County native and current Oklahoma State University student, helps with broadcasting and podcast production.
“I love what I do because some days I can share the latest breaking news for Ohio producers and other days I can help an eight-year-old have a successful first radio interview,” Minyo said.
With a project in conjunction with the Ohio Soybean Council, Sonnenberg is Ohio’s Field Leader, as well as a fifth-generation farmer on a farm that was started in 1882. Russell is a veteran broadcaster with roots in northwest Ohio.
“Across the state, when you are exposed to people in agriculture and see their passion…passion is contagious,” Russell said.
The passion for covering the industry is ingrained in the entire ag media group.
“From the Appalachian mountains in the southeast to the flat ground in the northwest, to an inland sea to the north, and a navigable river to our south, it makes for quite the varied job from day to day, which is a blessing,” Penhorwood said.
The Ohio’s Country Journal production department includes the newspaper’s editor and Ohio Ag Net podcast host Matt Reese, managing editor Kim Lemmon and accounting specialist Lisa Frost.
“I started with Ohio’s Country Journal in June of 1999 as the assistant editor,” Matt Reese said. “As editor, I oversee the content of Ohio’s Country Journal and the website at ocj.com.
I also…conduct interviews for use on radio, print and in the Ohio Ag Net Podcast.”
Kim Lemmon, who also serves as director of operations, has worked with the company for 24 years. “It feels great to provide information and news to help hard working farmers, and promote the industries which support them,” she said. Lisa Frost is new to the group, and as with most employees with OCJ and Ohio Ag Net, grew up on a farm and currently lives on a farm.
The sales team includes marketing specialists Jeff Reese, Joe Everett and Kristin Flowers, who are all farmers or have close family members who are active farmers as well. They are aided by independent contractor Bernadette Arehart.
“There is very little about this job not to love,” Jeff Reese said. “I get to help promote agriculture, I get to help other people promoting agriculture and I get to help everyone who supports the agriculture industry. It just is a part of who I am.”
Everett, who also was Ohio Farm Bureau’s Excellence in Agriculture contest winner in 2021, said his passion for agriculture began “the day I started helping my dad on the farm.”
Beth Carper, who is in charge of making sure the radio advertising is placed where it is supposed to be, sums it up this way: “The scope and importance of this industry touches everyone, whether everyone realizes it or not.”
Ohio Farm Bureau purchased Ohio Ag Net in 2020, but Ohio Ag Net operates as a stand-alone business. Combined, the team reaches a large farm audience through Ohio’s Country Journal subscribers and more than 50 Ohio Ag Net radio station affiliates throughout the state.
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