SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
If you live in southwest Colorado, you might recognize this voice.
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BOB BRAGG: This is Bob Bragg with the Farm News & Views report for the first week of September.
SIMON: For decades now, Bob Bragg has been covering agricultural news for KSJD in Cortez, Colorado.
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BRAGG: As corn and soybean harvest starts in some parts of the U.S., producers are facing grain markets that are barely providing break-even prices.
SIMON: But now Farm News & Views is an example of local programming that faces a challenging future after federal funding for public media was eliminated by the Trump administration. Bob Bragg joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
BRAGG: Well, thank you for asking me.
SIMON: How'd your show get started?
BRAGG: I started doing some farm broadcasting many years ago when the owner of a AM radio station asked me to do a program, and from there started to do this a little more regularly.
SIMON: And what is it that you do?
BRAGG: Well, I do research with the idea that maybe farmers may not pay as much attention as those who are not farmers and that they need to know something more of what - about what's happening in agriculture. Because it - you know, we all eat, so we all have a stake in what happens in our agricultural economy.
SIMON: Well, give us some for instances. Maybe we can learn something.
BRAGG: Probably the biggest thing is that farming is a pretty marginal - as far as income is concerned, it's pretty marginal for most farmers. And they're always at the risk of having some sort of catastrophe come along when it comes to weather. And, you know, now we have tariffs, and we have markets that are starting to show the effects of that. And so farmers have a lot of issues just staying in business. And, you know, family farms are starting to become almost a thing of the past in many parts of the country.
SIMON: You're a farmer yourself, too, aren't you?
BRAGG: Yes, I'm a small farmer. This is a gig that I do pro bono. And I just believe it's important that the non-ag public understand what's happening in agriculture.
SIMON: Got to ask you a tricky question, Mr. Bragg. You broadcast from Montezuma County...
BRAGG: Yes.
SIMON: ...Where I gather people have overwhelmingly voted for President Trump. What do they make of your show?
BRAGG: It's my belief that there's a whole lot more people who are not farmers who listen to my program than those who are. And I think that part of it is there may be some bias toward what some people consider NPR programming as being maybe to the left of center, and that - the fact that they just - they're not really interested in determining what's really going on. They would rather listen to, oh, the politicians just say everything is great.
SIMON: Your station, of course, is one of hundreds across the country that now faces budget cuts with the expiration of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I gather 30% budget cut in the case of your station, KSJD.
BRAGG: Yes.
SIMON: You must be concerned.
BRAGG: Yes. I think that there's a lot of concern by all those who are contributing listeners. This station could go away. And it means a lot to the community because it's not just my farm program, which is once a week, but all of the other programming that comes in. It's all volunteer DJs who play the music, kind of a slim staff who do community news and provide information to the public. That probably is the most important part of it. And when you get out into the hinterlands, you oftentimes can't pick up any other station other than public radio.
SIMON: Forgive me. You concerned that Farm News & Views can go on?
BRAGG: Well, if the station isn't there, I guess it won't be. It will go away. I guess I would say that there is a concern there that maybe it could go away, but not until they drag me out.
SIMON: Bob Bragg, who is the host of Farm News & Views at member station KSJD in southwest Colorado. Thanks so much for being with us, sir.
BRAGG: Appreciate visiting with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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