Ugh! That question makes me cringe! I am a professor of agricultural communications, I majored in ag communications, I love ag comm, and so I very proudly tell people about my industry. But so many times, when I tell people what I teach, I get asked the question that makes every agricultural communicator grind their teeth, roll their eyes, and heavy sigh: So, do you talk to cows? (Followed by dumb laughter, as if they are the first person to come up with this joke.)

If someone is from the Midwest, they’ll ask if I talk to corn. Occasionally, a clever individual will ask me if I teach cows to talk – that one makes me chuckle a tiny bit. It’s such a joke amongst agricultural communicators that my coworkers and students made a fun video about for April Fool’s Day in 2016. See the end of this post for the video. It’s brilliant.

For the spring semester of 2023, I wanted to try a fun and different way to reach my students. I know they don’t like reading, but they do like podcasts, and I like podcasts too. I have wanted to host a podcast for a while now, so the idea to combine a teaching tool with a creative outlet seemed fun. Plus, this was an efficient way to do some occasional broadcasting. I decided to interview some of my favorite a agricultural communicators from across the nation and provide those interviews to my students, then I’ll release them out to everyone else that might want to listen. Plus the podcasts are a way to connect with people that don’t live here in Lubbock and share their stories with my students.

Now, what to name this podcast? I asked everyone I knew for a suggestion and compiled a long list of lameness. Then, my husband’s former boss, Sally Post, made the joke. “Call it ‘Erica Talks to Cows’.” After I finished rolling my eyes and threatened to kick her out of my house for using the tired joke, I realized she was on to something. Everyone that works in ag comm has heard that, so if I played with the name, the communicators would get it. Sally Post, you’re a genius!

For the early episodes, I’m going to follow the order of my course schedule – print journalism (newspapers, magazines, photos), face to face communications, radio, television, public relations, then as I get into the summer, I’ll have less of an order. I love talking to and learning from others, and I want my students to learn from as many professionals as possible. So if you want to be on the show, send me an email and we’ll set something up!

My first guest is someone that I met very early in my career, and she has always been so helpful and just nice to everyone. Shelley Huguley is the editor of Southwest Farm Press, an agricultural newspaper that serves Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Shelley is an excellent writer and editor and has always been so helpful to us here at Texas Tech. I got acquainted with her when I was a reporter at KLBK and she was the communications director for the Texas Forest Service in the Lubbock region. She always had great story ideas and was extremely friendly. She shares some of her ideas about writing and photography in this podcast episode.

Southwest Farm Press is a top notch publication: one of the best. They serve the readership well and connect to other publications owned by Farm Progress. I have tremendous respect for this publication and the writers they employ. Take a look at the website that I linked. They have done a great job of embracing multiple platforms of ag journalism. Also, find them on Twitter: @farmpress

Here’s the podcast. I can’t get the player to embed into WordPress and welcome any suggestions on how to fix it. And yes, I googled how to do it.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2134477/12250367-agricultural-publications-shelley-huguley.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-12250367&player=small

And now the super fabulous talking to cows video: