Category Archives: AAEA

AAEA New Media Awards

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AAEAThe American Agricultural Editors Association has announced its first New Media Awards Program. This is a very progressive move and I applaud them for it. It will be interesting to see the results and I’m betting there are already unanticipated questions for the competition. For example, I wonder if someone who is an Active member can submit entries in both the Marketing Communications Division and the Publishing Division as long as they are for different projects. I just happen to know a couple of members who qualify both ways as far as membership is concerned. If you know the answer to the question please leave in comments.

We are excited to announce the inaugural year of the AAEA New Media Awards Program, with thanks to Syngenta for providing the funding to make it possible and to many forward-thinking AAEA members who gave input during its gestation in recent years.

New Media Award Program entries and payment must be postmarked by April 17, 2012. Download the 2012 New Media Awards entry form (pdf). The form includes all the rules, guidelines and categories. Fees are $20 per entry.
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NAMA AAEA Get Together At Commodity Classic

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One of our sponsors here at Commodity Classic, BASF, gets involved in supporting the event in so many ways. One of them is to sponsor this year’s combined American Agricultural Editors Association and National Agri-Marketing Association reception. Pictured (l-r) Beth Burgy, Broadhead and NAMA President; Nadine Keutzer, BASF; Amy Ogburn, Padilla Speer Beardsley and Greg Horstmeier, DTN/The Progressive Farmer and AAEA President. As a member of both organizations I think I can speak for fellow members in saying how much we appreciate BASF’s support.

Beth made a point of saying that this combined event with AAEA is due to NAMA efforts to reach out and work with other industry organizations. This is part of the new strategic plan that we’re trying to implement starting this year. I am serving on the NAMA Exec Committee and was glad to see this collaboration come about.

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 Commodity Classic Show is sponsored by BASF and New Holland

Ag Media Summit Supports Soles4Souls

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The Ag Media Summit held a shoe drive to benefit Soles4Souls. I believe almost 300 pairs of shoes were donated! During the conference we held a public distribution of shoes at the Ozanam Inn, a local homeless shelter.

On hand were Andy Atzenweiler and Kathy LaScala, pictured here with two of the folks we met at the shelter. The shoes were sorted by size and groups of people made their way through, finding their size and leaving with something good for their feet. The shoes distributed here were actually not the ones we brought to the AMS. Those are going elsewhere. However, we wanted a way to show publicly our support for the effort and were able to get a quantity of tennis shoes via Soles4Souls for this event. I’ve got a short video clip you can watch of the distribution. Thanks to everyone who supported this very worthwhile effort.

2011 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by BASF and AgHaven

Annual AAEA Awards

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There are a lot of awards presented during the Ag Media Summit. I’ve got some information here to share with you from the American Agricultural Editors Association. I posted their Lifetime Achievement Awards already but here are some more. If you’d like to download the full document of winners then use this link (pdf).

Pictured is Mike Deering, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, receiving the Andy Markwart Horizon Award from Barry Nelson, John Deere. John Deere has very generously made this award possible with a financial grant to AAEA and matched by the AAEA PIF. You may know that this is given in memory of Andy who was the editor of The Furrow and passed away in 2006.

Also presented was the 2011 Distinguished Service Award, made possible through a grant to the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation by Archer Daniels Midland Company. The Distinguished Service Award recipient is Dr. Paul Sun, special project scientist for Dairyland Seed, posted at Dairyland’s 600-acre Southern Wisconsin Research Station in Rock County near Clinton, Wisconsin. A native of Mainland China, Dr. Sun and his family moved to Taiwan when he was 11 years old. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Sun, with more than 40 years experience in plant breeding, nearly 30 of which have been with Dairyland Seed, is considered the father of hybrid alfalfa.

Other awards include:

AAEA 2011 Photographer of the Year – William DeKay, The Western Producer
AAEA 2011 Writer of the Year – Steve Werblow, Steve Werblow Communications

Congratulations to all winners. I will post winners from ACT and LPC as soon as I get them.

2011 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by BASF and AgHaven

AAEA Presents Lifetime Achievement Awards

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The American Agricultural Editors Association presented two Lifetime Achievement Awards during the Ag Media Summit awards banquet.

Receiving one of the awards from the AAEA was John Harvey (pictured on right).

These awards are just some of the many awards that are presented during the Ag Media Summit. I will try to find an electronic copy of them and provide a link as soon as I can.

Fred Myers received one of the awards too (pictured on right). Earlier in the day he received recognition during the luncheon for fifty years of service to AAEA.

I visited with Fred before the awards banquet about his service award. He says he doesn’t know where the 50 years have gone. He’s always considered AAEA “his organization.” He also received a nice letter from our Secretary of Agriculture. Fred also has a book that he’s written. If you’d like to know more about it or order one just send him an email.

You can listen to my conversation with Fred here: Fred Myers Interview

2011 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by BASF and AgHaven

Meet New AAEA and LPC Presidents

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ZimmCast 313The ZimmCast is produced this week in the lobby/registration area at the Agricultural Media Summit. I’m posting as the first break is ending and now it’s time for more professional development sessions. My interviews were recorded on a new app I have for my iPhone. They didn’t come out sounding as good as I’d like but they are okay.

In this week’s program we’re going to meet the new Presidents of the American Agricultural Editors Association and Livestock Publications Council. Let’s start with AAEA and new President, Greg Horstmeier, DTN/The Progressive Farmer. Here’s a picture of Greg during the AAEA board meeting.

Greg says the membership continues to grow. He says the AAEA board discussed what ways they can engage membership, especially those who couldn’t attend the Ag Media Summit. He says one of the things they are focusing on is how social media is playing a role in the job of agricultural journalists. You can learn more about what he’ll be working on in his year as President in the program.

The new President of LPC is Dr. Scott Vernon, Cal-Poly. Here’s Scott talking to the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow group that is meeting here too. Scott echoed some of the same comments that Greg made. He says LPC went through a long range planning process recently. One of the things coming out of that process was a plan to create more educational opportunities for members in the form of more regional workshops. He says LPC is rolling out a new tag line, “Advancing the livestock media professional.” Learn more about what’s going on with LPC in the program.

Meet Greg and Scott in this week’s program: Meet New AAEA & LPC Presidents

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

2011 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by BASF and AgHaven

Ag Communications Groups United for Japan Relief

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Ten North American agricultural communications organizations have joined together in an effort to provide support for the people of Japan as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.

AAEAThrough the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) is coordinating the North American effort that also includes:

Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT)
Agricultural Media Summit LLC
Agricultural Relations Council (ARC)
American Business Media Agri-Council
Canadian Farm Writers Federation
Livestock Publications Council
National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA)
National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB)
North American Agricultural Journalists

So far they have raised more than $9,000 and are now reaching out to the members of all the participating organization to ask for donations. All contributions are being sent to and managed by the Japan Agricultural Journalists Association and be directed to rural areas and predominantly farmers. Chuck recently did a ZimmCast with Japanese ag journalist and IFAJ representative Masaru Yamada about the situation there.

Donations can be made on-line https://www.humanspan.com/secure/aaea/donation.asp by credit card. Check should be made payable to AAEA Foundation and mailed to:

AAEA Foundation
Den Gardner
120 Main St. West
PO Box 156 (if sent by US Postal Service)
New Prague, MN 56071

So spread the word through newsletters, websites, members’ magazines, radio announcements, Twitter, Facebook, whatever and contact Den Gardner for further information.

AAEA Relaxes At Commodity Classic

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Karen SimonsThe American Agricultural Editors Association held a reception for members attending this year’s Commodity Classic. Quite a few of the 126 members of the ag media attended including past president Karen Simon, Iowa Soybean Association.

I spoke with Karen and Willie Vogt, Farm Progress Companies, about this summer’s Ag Media Summit. Karen is the Conference Chair and Willie is chairing the sponsorship committee. This year Ag Media Summit will be July 24-27 in New Orleans. So get an AMS preview and if you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, let them know.

You can listen to my interview with Willie and Karen here: AAEA Interview

2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: BASF New Holland and AgHaven

AAEA At Commodity Classic

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AAEACalling all AAEA members who will be attending Commodity Classic. Let’s get together.

Mark your calendars! You are invited to an AAEA member reception at Commodity Classic. The reception is another example of AAEA’s efforts to bring our members together for friendship and connections at industry meetings. Last year’s first annual Commodity Classic reception attracted more than 50 members and guests.

For: AAEA members and guests
When: Friday, March 4, 2011
Where: Tampa Convention Center, Room 30A
Time: 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Please RSVP to aaea@gardnerandgardnercommunications.com or 952-758-6502.

2011 Ag Media Summit Logo Contest

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Ag Media SummitHey AAEA and LPC members. Want to pocket $200? Enter a design in the 2011 Ag Media Summit logo contest.

This contest is open to any LPC or AAEA member or student member of either organization. ACT members, you may participate if you are a student member of either organization.

Things to consider:
Theme: Jazz It Up! NOLA 2011
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Dates: July 23-27, 2011

Keep in mind this logo is used in a variety of mediums from signage to the website to give-aways so don’t make it so complicated that it does not reproduce well. It’s a good idea to design it so it looks good in black and white too.

Deadline for submission: Wednesday, October 20, 2010; to dianej@flash.net, please put “AMS 2011 logo submission-“your name” in the subject line. Please submit as a pdf but keep it so that you can modify it slightly if the committee requests. You may submit as many entries as you wish.

The AMS Steering Committee will vote on the entries and their decision is final. The logo then becomes the property of the AMS and it will be the logo for the 2011 event only.

AAEA Has New Website

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The American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) has a new website and it is a major improvement.

“For our members and prospective members, it’s more reader-friendly, interactive and informative, with much of the same content that was in the previous site plus some additions,” said Den Gardner, AAEA executive director. “Behind the scenes, it is much more efficient for the AAEA staff to manage.”

“A big part of the update was building a site that better organizes AAEA’s online resources. I think we’ve accomplished that,” said Steve Fairchild, AAEA president. “Plus, we’ve incorporated some little things, like the Twitter feed, that help our members stay in touch with what AAEA is doing as an organization.”

The site incorporates Twitter feeds from @AgEditors and @AgMediaSummit, in addition to the related hash tags #ageditors, #AgMS for the association’s annual conference Ag Media Summit, and #ifaj for the affiliated organization the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

The website was designed by Aha! Digital.

Meet New AAEA and LPC Presidents

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ZimmCast 268In this week’s program we’ll get to meet the new Presidents of the American Agricultural Editors Association and Livestock Publications Council. They’re both Missouri boys!

First up is Steven Fairchild, MFA Incorporated. I asked him what his goals are for his year in office and he wants to focus on membership since increasing membership is a key goal of the organization.

He says the meetings at AMS reflect the hard work of outgoing president, Karen Simon. He says AAEA will have a new website this fall.

Next is Andy Atzenweiler, Missouri Beef Cattlemen Magazine. He says things are in good shape at LPC and they’re going to “tweak” their website. They want to promote their contest more since there were a lot of changes this year.

At the annual meeting there was some discussion about changing the by-laws to get rid of the language referring to the ratio of service to publication members. It is now about 50-50.

ZimmCast 268

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page

Ag Media Summit Concludes

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3 Gregs at AMSThe 2010 Agricultural Media Summit has concluded but that doesn’t mean the coverage on AgWired has ended. So much posting to do and so little time . . .

I’ve got a lot more to post from AMS but I’ve also got 3 more events to attend in the next week before getting back to ZimmComm World Headquarters. So, I’ll be posting interviews and photos when time allows. I’m heading to Denver early in the morning for the Cattle Industry Summer Conference where I’ll be Beef Board Blogging and hoping everything works out okay with the groups participating in the meeting. I’m sure more information on that will be forthcoming.

In the meantime I have updated the AMS photo album. There are some great photos in there and I hope you enjoy it. Like this one of the “3 Gregs” during the closing banquet tonight. All of tonight’s award winners are in there and I’ll try to find a way to post who they all are when I get a listing. You’ll know many of them.

2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Live Stream of LPC/AAEA Midwest Workshop

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The Livestock Publications Council and AAEA are live streaming their Midwest Regional Workshop right now. Just got the notification.

At the last minute we were able to go ahead and stream today’s workshop in Des Moines. Join us now as Crystal Young discusses videography. Followed by a tremendous line up of speakers.

Post Update: There were up to 70 people viewing the live stream today which is more than attended the event. I guess we got the word out, eh? It really shows how valuable this tool can be. Great job by Jeff Caldwell and others I don’t have names for. It’s my understanding the organization members will find videos of the presentations on their websites within the next week.

AAEA 2010 MarComm Awards Entry Deadline

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AAEAJust when you thought you were all caught up. NAMA awards over with, etc. You’ve got the Golden ARC Awards entries and don’t forget the AAEA MarComm Awards.

The AAEA 2010 MarComm Awards Program is open to affiliate members of AAEA, to freelancers who are active members yet create materials in the 10 categories, and to non-members who join as affiliates. Non-members must join AAEA by the program entry deadline in order to enter.

AAEA At Commodity Classic

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The American Agricultural Editors Association held a first time reception for members at this year’s Commodity Classic. We had very good attendance and it was a great way to unwind with friends at the end of a busy day.

If you haven’t joined AAEA then consider doing so. The organization has really been developing more and more benefits for members like educational webinars as well as the Ag Media Summit and awards programs.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

AAEA Photography Webinar

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Attention photographers!

AAEAAmerican Agricultural Editor’s Association (AAEA) is hosting a one-hour photography webinar called “Making an Old Subject New” on February 2 at 2:00 pm central time. Experts will offer tips on new angles, new lighting and new approaches to the same old photo situations.

The webinar is free for AAEA members and $50 for non-members. If you’re not a member yet, but would like to be, you can become one for just $100 and the webinar is FREE!

Click here to register for the Webinar. If you have questions, please contact Linda Smith, Member Services chair, or Kenna Rathai, AAEA.

IFAJ Award For Broadcast Journalism

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IFAJI’m really glad to see the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists move forward with a new “broadcast” award program that includes both terrestrial radio and tv broadcasts as well as web broadcasts. That’s being progressive! Interestingly, the only U.S. members of IFAJ are members of AAEA which has traditionally had a membership of publication editors. However, that’s changing. I’m a member of AAEA for example.

This move makes the idea pop up in my mind again of “Why don’t NAFB/AAEA/LCP/Etc. just merge? Aren’t they all in the same business? Would this make sense? Then they all could be members of IFAJ. Let’s face it. We all talk about being in a “global marketplace.” Why not collaborate with our peers internationally? What do you think of this idea? Note how IFAJ refers to the award as broadcast journalism instead of farm broadcasting.

I just agreed to be a judge for the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists for their 2010 Australian Star Prize for Rural Broadcasting. Winners from their contest will be submitted as their country entries for the IFAJ awards.

The IFAJ has expanded its prestigious Star Prize award program for excellence in agricultural journalism and photography, with a new award for broadcast journalism. The award has categories for radio, television and online broadcasting. The deadline for the competitions is earlier this year to so winners can be selected in time for the early annual congress. Entries close February 1, 2010. For more information go to www.ifaj.org.

So, since only AAEA members can enter you’ve got very little time to get your entries in. You must first be selected by AAEA in order to be submitted to IFAJ. Contact the AAEA office for more details. The deadline for AAEA entries is January 15. Here are the categories:

The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Star Prize for Broadcast Journalism recognizes the best radio, television and internet broadcasting among federation member countries.

Categories

  • Television – for the best piece produced primarily for broadcast on television.
  • Radio – for the best piece produced primarily for broadcast on radio.
  • Online radio (podcasts) – for the best audio piece produced primarily for broadcast via the internet.
  • Online video – for the best audio visual piece produced primarily for broadcast via the internet.

IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit Update

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ZimmCast 227 - IFAJ/AMS ReportAlthough I could not attend the combined IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit that doesn’t mean I’m not in touch. I just got off Skype with Greg Lamp, Corn & Soybean Digest, and Co-Chair of the event. He had a short break before the afternoon activities get underway.

Greg says the mix of U.S. and international visitors has worked out great and the event is a success. Many of our international guests commented that the “cowboy spirit” they’ve experienced is just what they hoped it would be. Greg says he’s caught that spirit too. Sounds like a lot of hats and boots are going home from this conference.

So listen to my chat with Greg to hear how this year’s event has been going. Just click on the audio player below.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
Pioneer-HiBred Successful Farming and Novus International

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