Farm Director
Agriculture is a serious business for farmers in the upper Midwest! No one knows that better than WNAX’s Managing Farm Director Michelle Rook. That’s why she works so hard to deliver the in-depth market analysis and farm news that area producers need to make their daily decisions.
Michelle leads a team of farm broadcasters that consistently delivers some of the top farm audience ratings in the nation. She is also very active in the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) and in 2006 served as NAFB National President, after two years as a national officer and another two as regional vice president.
Michelle is a reporter at heart and has been recognized for her journalistic excellence with the NAFB Horizon Award, NAFB Newscast and Marketcast Awards, several NAFB News Service Awards and even Associated Press recognition. She has also received media awards from the SD Farm Bureau, the SD Soybean Association and the SD Pork Producers Council, SD Farmers Union and the National Farmers Union.
As a professional meteorologist, Michelle also spends weekends as a television weather anchor for the NBC affiliate in Sioux City, IA. She also free-lances for various nationally syndicated ag TV shows like AgDay.
Michelle’s agricultural roots are deeply imbedded in this area. She grew up on a dairy and crop farm in eastern South Dakota and her parents are still actively involved in farming. She has bachelor’s degrees in dairy manufacturing and ag journalism from SDSU, in addition to a master’s degree in journalism and a broadcast meteorology degree from Mississippi State University. She was a State FFA Officer in South Dakota and involved in 4-H for 11 years.
Michelle lives in Yankton with her husband Brian. She is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church and is involved in the church’s Praise Team and is a Sunday school music teacher.
