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

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

The

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

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.

Through 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.

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

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

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.

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.

AAEA Awards List (pdf)
LPC Awards List

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.

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

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

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
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American 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.

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.

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.

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For details on the three tours, log on to www.agmediasummit.com or www.ifaj2009.com. In the meantime, here’s a quick recap of the Texas tours planned for you this summer.

West Texas: A four-day West Texas tour that includes Lubbock, Hereford and Amarillo with stops at cotton and corn farms, wineries, cattle ranches and even ethanol operations. Cost for this tour is $750 per person double occupancy, $950 as a single.

Saddle up and catch the cowboy spirit.

I interviewed Andy Atzenweiler and will post it when I get back to my room later. He says that the program is finalized and I got a copy of it. You can see the latest version on the Ag Media Summit website. It sounds like we’re a little ahead of normal with sponsors and the program but then we’ve been planning this one for two years since we’re overlapping with the international folks from IFAJ.

You can listen to my interview with Andy here: nama-09-atzenweiler.mp3

I hope to see a lot of you in Texas.

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Cindy and I joined the group for a reception meeting last night. The local convention and visitor’s bureau and hotel provided a tour and hosted our reception. We covered the program, which is mostly set now, including speakers. I’ll have more information about this shortly here on AgWired and I’ve got quite a bit of new information to get posted this week on the IFAJ 2009 Congress website.

For those who don’t know, this year the Ag Media Summit is overlapping with the IFAJ Congress for the first time. It’s going to be a big meeting and I’m looking forward to a great program.

2009 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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“I have always been driven by the search for excellence in this profession. I seek the facts, encourage my imagination and often go where no one has gone before. A test a few years ago confirmed what I’ve long suspected. That is, I am a visionary. If you don’t already know this, visionaries are often obstructed in what they attempt to do and criticized for the way they view the future. In the end, however, I have no regrets. I have always firmly believed life should be an exciting trip, a time of doing only what is enjoyable and of supporting and promoting a chosen profession.” -Fred Meyers

Take a look at Fred’s website. Whether you are a writer or not, he has quite a few tips on how to conquer the challenges we face in agriculture. Why don’t you head over there now? It may just perk up your Tuesday afternoon…

If you have any questions, please contact Karen Simon at KSimon@iasoybeans.com.

But this isn’t only about me. It’s about all of us and about our profession and our lives. So I encourage you to share with me your thoughts, comments and any news you believe others should know. I will then post them. You can either be identified with them or contribute in anonymity. I will honor your choice.

So if you’re wondering about all the awards presented at the Ag Media Summit for AAEA, you can see them for yourself: AAEA Awards (pdf).

Among the awards presented were the AAEA Lifetime Achievement Award to Claude Gifford, long time associate editor of Farm Journal and USDA director of information, and to the late Larry Harper, editor of the Missouri Ruralist.

The AAEA Distinguished Service Award went to Dwayne Best of SD State University’s Dakota Lakes Research Farm. LPC’s Headliner Award was presented to Bud Snidow, Jr., with American Hereford Association for 32 years and currently serving at the organization historian at the age of 90.

LPC’s Hall of Fame award was given to Greg Henderson of Drovers, the first chairman of AMS in 1999. And the Andy Markwart Horizon Award winner was Corey Geiger, Hoards Dairyman.

A power point presentation showed 10 years of memories, some of them bittersweet, and a salute to American agriculture. We hope to get that posted here at some point.

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

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The new President is Holly Martin, High Plains Journal, pictured in the center of the group here. Holly says that the big push this year for AAEA will be the combined AMS and IFAJ Congress next year in Ft. Worth. She says they’ll be working on organization and developing additional support for the event which will be a great opportunity to showcase American agriculture to the world. AAEA appears to be in great shape and has 400 members.

I spoke to Holly after the meeting and you can listen to our conversation here: ams-08-martin.mp3

You’ll find photos from the AAEA annual meeting in the photo album.

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

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After today’s board meeting he told me that the organization is very healthy and that it’s been a pleasure for him to preside over continued growth in membership and sponsors. Topics discussed at the meeting include, new member benefits like professional development webinars, new award categories for multi-media like video, continued ethics discussions and an expanded role for affiliate members. John says that Holly Martin, High Plains Journal, will be taking over the reins at the end of the AMS.

You can listen to my interview with John here: ams-08-walter-1.mp3

I’ll be talking to John again about what his company is doing online since they’re one of our event coverage sponsors.

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

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The board meetings of the two main ag journalism groups are going on right now. Here’s the Livestock Publications Council going at it hard and heavy.

I’ll try to get a report from LPC after lunch and post later.

While LPC is meeting, the American Agricultural Editors Association
is also getting some work done.

I’m sure next year’s AMS, which will be combined with the IFAJ Congress is a big topic of discussion in these meetings. There’s a need to make sure we integrate multiple programs and it should provide an opportunity for AMS growth too.

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