Submitted photo In the photo are: Ryan Domeier, Rooms & Rest Furniture; Jim Bartels, KNUJ; Tami Leuthold, River Valley Woman; Amy Pearson, Thrivent Financial.

NEW ULM — The Willkommen visited the KNUJ / SAM 107 studio to congratulate Jim Bartels who was awarded the 2017 Agriculture Communicator of the Year from the Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation. This is an annual awards program through Minnesota Farm Bureau which represents 30,000 members.

The Brown and Nicollet County Farm Bureau groups nominated Jim to receive this award. Jim, who has been the manager at KNUJ since 1986, grew up on a farm and brings that experience and knowledge to the station including the reports and interviews from the National FFA Conventions that started in 1976.

While the award is to a person and not an entity, Jim was quick to recognize the efforts of Ingstad Broadcasting which puts an emphasis on hometown radio and ag related broadcasting.