Young-Puyear carries 35 years of lessons in ag journalism to NAFB Hall of Fame

SubmittedCyndi Young-Puyear speaks in Kansas City as she is honored with an induction into the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Hall of Fame. Young-Puyear has worked in the agriculture broadcasting industry for 35 years.
SubmittedCyndi Young-Puyear speaks in Kansas City as she is honored with an induction into the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Hall of Fame. Young-Puyear has worked in the agriculture broadcasting industry for 35 years.

A stalwart of farm broadcasting who has been based in Moniteau County for two decades has been inducted into the 2021 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Hall of Fame, the latest in a list of accomplishments spanning a 35-year-long career.

Cyndi Young-Puyear, Director of Brownfield and Ag Operations for Learfield, was recognized for the honor along with 73 other inductees during the 78th annual NAFB Convention held Nov. 17-19 in Kansas City. She began her career in broadcasting at WJIL Radio in Jacksonville, Ill., in 1985 and has since worked for Oklahoma Agrinet and as farm director for WTAX in Springfield, Ill. Young-Puyear joined Brownfield - an ag news network including the largest and one of the oldest agricultural news radio networks in the country - as Regional Farm Director in 1998 and was promoted to her current position in 2001, which prompted she and her husband, Jim Puyear, to make the move from Illinois to Missouri.

Now, the pair lives in Jamestown and also owns Rocking P Ranch, where they raise Simmental cattle and have a branded beef business.

Young-Puyear's extensive career has earned her several leadership roles with NAFB, a 1997 national Farm Broadcaster of the Year award and 2009 Oscar in Agriculture, and the opportunity to interview presidents, Secretaries of Agriculture and ambassadors to countries around the globe.

Getting here, though, has certainly been a long ride. Young-Puyear said she initially planned to teach high school agriculture but didn't feel it was the right path, despite being happy with what she was doing. After some persuasion from the news director at WJIL, she decided to take a job at the radio station instead and hasn't looked back since.

"It took with me," Young-Puyear said. "I liked the opportunity to work with farmers and providing them with important news and information that they needed and wanted."

During her time with Brownfield, Young-Puyear has helped oversee its growth from less than 200 affiliate stations across Midwestern states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin to more than 550. Their programming will also be making a return to California's local station soon, she said.

She certainly hasn't done so alone, as a team of a dozen agricultural journalists works alongside her to create and disseminate original content across multiple platforms.

"I'm not very good at bragging about myself - I'd rather be on your side of this interview," Young-Puyear told the Democrat. "Because that's who I am. I'm curious by nature and like to tell the stories."

Despite the scale of Brownfield's work, Young-Puyear said the fact that their affiliates are local stations is very important to her. She said she can't stress enough how much she believes in supporting local journalism, whether it be a local radio station or newspaper, and that's part of Brownfield's goal. The news network shares its content with such local stations, which in turn helps them to supplement their more hyper-local coverage.

It all ties into Young-Puyear's personal philosophy as a journalist - that there's a balance to framing ag-related issues happening in Washington or Jefferson City in the context of how those issues affect people locally.

"We hear so much about what happens in the big towns and the cities, but the real world is happening in all of those smaller, rural communities as far as I am concerned," Young-Puyear said.

Also tied to Young-Puyear's personal philosophy is a dedication to ensuring as many sides of a story are being told as possible. There are always two sides - and often even more - to every story, she said, and it's a journalist's responsibility to share that.

Young-Puyear said it's especially important given the "political craziness" of the past few years, which has led to an increased polarization from national media sources and a growing distrust toward those sources as a result. Young-Puyear said that's led to citizens, namely farmers and ranchers, turning to local radio and newspapers to find a trustworthy news source, and Young-Puyear said she loves that people are turning more and more toward those local sources.

Also key to her work is a mantra she shares with her team of reporters - "It's better to be right than it is to be first." Along the same lines, she said it's also a journalist's responsibility to not let their personal beliefs cloud their reporting. Young-Puyear said she counts herself lucky to work with a team that ranges the political spectrum, which she said helps to provide a balance to their work that ensures those beliefs don't turn into a distraction.

"I have people on my team that have a wide range of political beliefs, and I'm pretty set with how I feel politically, but it's not just my hope, it's the way that it has to be - you should never, ever be able to tell when you hear a Brownfield report on your local radio station the political feeling, the political sway of that reporter," Young-Puyear said. "And it can be a challenge when you have really staunch beliefs, it's hard."

Looking back on her career so far - of "35 years and a billion memories" - Young-Puyear said while she's proud of her personal accomplishments, she hasn't done it on her own. Whether it's been the farmers and ranchers she's worked with for stories or folks at affiliate stations, there have been many people who have been a part of her journey.

For Young-Puyear, she said it is especially rewarding to see younger journalists who are new to farm broadcasting finding their way and finding success. She said a lot of talented, forward-thinking ag journalists have set a foundation for NAFB, but sometimes, "you have to slay a sacred cow or two" to stay relevant, and it's good to see younger journalists doing that and setting their own stones in the foundation.

"For me, I think when I look back at my career, yes, I'm proud of some of the awards or the stories that I've been able to break, but after all these years of managing a team of farm broadcasters and mentoring young women and men, nothing compares to seeing them succeed and seeing them being recognized for their work," Young-Puyear said. "Because that's our future."

Part of that new generation finding its footing has been watching the field shift toward being accessible to more than just its traditional demographics. Young-Puyear pointed to conversations she had with young women working as farm broadcasters at the NAFB awards ceremony, who approached her afterward to thank her for blazing a trail, as one example of the shifting landscape. When she started out, Young-Puyear said there were maybe seven women among the 250-300 men working in the field. It's been a joy and a pleasure, she said, to see that number grow and change toward more inclusivity.

Alongside all of the admirable elements of Young-Puyear's mindset toward her work is a personal excitement that goes hand-in-hand. She described finding a nugget of news worth following up on or breaking a good story as a "rush" that, in itself, is more rewarding than winning any award. It's hard to explain, she said, but boils down to knowing that you've done your best and finding value in that. And working against a deadline helps fuel that adrenaline rush, too, she added.

Young-Puyear noted her roots are also vastly important to her. She grew up on a family grain and livestock farm in Scott County, Illinois, and would have been the seventh generation of the farm had she remained there. Those roots, she said, help to guide her as a journalist, just as much as they do as a farmer.

"I have skin in the game of agriculture," Young-Puyear said. "Separate from being a reporter, and having that skin in the game I think sometimes helps me to dig a little deeper with some questioning. One of the biggest compliments I've ever (gotten) is 'You'll always be a Scott County farm girl.' In my heart, I'm that farm kid, and so in my career that farm kid is in the back of my head saying 'Well, what about Joe Farmer down the road?' It's not just about the guy that has 5,000 acres. It's also about the guy that has 50 acres."

Humble beginnings - and a still-humble mentality - help Young-Puyear "check her ego at the door" when she's interviewed influential figures like former presidents or in her travels to report from different countries. However, she said her favorite and most treasured conversations always end up being with the person who's "on the land," making their living from raising crops or livestock.

"When you sit down and you talk to a farmer from Tipton, or wherever it might be, they put their heart out there," Young-Puyear said. "Once they trust you, they put their heart out there, and they are trusting you with what they have to say. That's a huge responsibility."