Although Russel Nemetz is not from Big Sandy there isn't a farmer or rancher that hasn't listened to him on the radio and television. He has done a great job of representing agriculture and I was interested in talking to him about his legacy.
Sitting down with me between his own television interviews I wanted to know what it was that made Russel so successful. He was genuinely willing to visit with me. I was inspired. I recorded him like I do everyone, but transcribing his comments became difficult because for years he learned to talk fast for radio and television so he could make the most of his time, but it made it almost impossible to write his recorded words without constantly turning off the recorder.
Russell was raised on a family farm/ranch near Chinook Montana alongside the Milk River. He was a farm boy who learned to work. He graduated from Chinook High School. "I'm a sugarbeeter through and through." Besides family chores he was active in 4-H and FFA. He graduated from MSU-Billings with a bachelor's degree in Communications.
"Russel how long have you been doing this."
"Oh gosh Lorrie, I think over 20 years. I got started in 1996. I've really only done one job." For a lot of years, he worked specifically at Northern Ag Network, but he left that full-time position as the Ag Director of the Northern Ag Network and started his own media company Nemetz Communications. He still contracts ag stories back to "Taylor and his crew in Billings". Creating his own business, "gave me the opportunity to do what I do here on radio and TV for other states.
There is a shortage of ag media broadcasting in this neck of the woods." He provides farm news in Montana, ND, SD, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado in the Northern Plains Rocky Mountain West Region. "I don't try to stray too far from what we do here in Montana; the cereal grain industry, the cow calf industry, and peas and lentils. It's hard enough to do what we do in this neck of the woods in production agriculture." He doesn't try to cover agriculture stories that he's not knowledgeable of. "We know what we're doing in so many cool and different things in production agriculture." It's different from what his parents and grandparents knew and they could only dream about what is happening in ag technology. "We can grow different crops and different livestock. It has allowed young people to come back into agriculture. The classmates that went away and learned a high-tech job can return and raise their children right in rural Montana and still do their jobs via the internet."
He is very proud to work with the Mt Television Network bringing stories and ag news throughout the day on RFD TV. RFD-TV is an American satellite television channel owned by Rural Media Group which is devoted to rural issues, and agriculture stories. "Farmers and rancher like to hear what other farmers and ranchers are doing. They (farmers and ranchers) have a tremendous responsibility to feed and clothe the world.
"The media, and even social media must be ready to tell our stories, on a moment's notice. We need to tell our stories in a positive way. People have been so removed from agriculture. It's always important to tell the story in the right way. Agriculture is no different than other industries unfortunately if one bad apple does it wrong that is played over and over and over in main stream media. It's important we let the world know that 99.9% of the farmers are doing it right. If people are in the news business they need to do their homework. We have to make it factual. I'm an agriculture advocate and I want to tell the real story."
Russell has traveled to Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Russia and Taiwan telling the story of ag. He's won a number of awards for his ag reporting over the years, but probably the most important recognition he has earned is the respect of the farmers and ranchers that he spends his time supporting.
