Between Passion and Pressure is the them of this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress. It’s going to be held seaside April 17-21 in Ostend, Belgium at the Thermae Palace hotel. I’ll be attending and get back just in time for the start of the NAMA convention in Kansas City.
This year’s IFAJ Congress is being hosted by the Belgian Association of Agricultural Journalists (BVLJ-ABJA), a founding member of IFAJ. Here’s a look at the program:
Saturday April 17th, 2010 – Arrival at the Thermae Palace Hotel (Ostend)
* Beach animation in the morning and afternoon
* Executive meeting at 2 P.M.
* Welcome dinner at 8 P.M
Sunday April 18th – The city of Ghent
* Symposium ‘Ghent, cradle of biotech’ (morning)
* Partner program: ancient city of Ghent (morning)
* Visit to the Floralies (afternoon)
* Dinner at ‘t Boerenhof and tribute to the sax” by the new Orleans Night Owls
Monday April 19th – Tours
* Tour 1 – West-Flanders : Intensive horticultural production, horticultural auction, arable crops and
beef production
* Tour 2 – East-Flanders : Pig production and processing, biogaz and agro-environmental management
* Tour 3 – Antwerp & Flemish Brabant : Intensive horticultural production & horticultural auction, horticultural research, Belgian endive and dairy
* Tour 4 – Antwerp :Janssen Animal Health, veal production and dairy
* Tour 5 – Wallonia : Agricultural machinery (Joskin), artificial insemination, cattle breeding (Belgian White Blue), beef production
Tuesday April 20th
* Partner program: city of Bruges: historical centre, Belgian chocolate and lace(morning)
* Specific technical tours (morning)
* Partner program: city of Ostend (afternoon)
* Workshop: ‘Agricultural journalism, between passion & pressure’ (afternoon)
* General assembly at 4 P.M.
* Farewell dinner – IFAJ Band
I’d like to thank in advance AgWired sponsors for coverage of this year’s IFAJ Congress, Novus International and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
Alltech has once again sponsored the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism awards. Ten young agricultural journalist winners have been announced. Their awards will allow them to attend this year’s IFAJ Congress, which Cindy will be attending.
The IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism awards recognize the leadership potential of young members from countries belonging to IFAJ. Recipients each receive 1,000 Euros to support their participation at an IFAJ Congress. Winners of the 2010 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism awards are:
Andrea Bahrenberg, Germany
Liza Burger, South Africa
Jesus Colmenarejo, Spain
Margaret Donnelly, Ireland
Tatjana Kren Hlebic, Slovenia
Aleksandar Radovic, Serbia
Soledad Ricca, Argentina
Lilian Schaer, Canada
Terhi Torikka, Finland
Sarah Trickett, UK
“We live in a fast-paced world that demands an increasingly global perspective for professional communicators,” says IFAJ President Mike Wilson, USA. “Through this partnership with Alltech, the IFAJ can provide young journalists with that perspective by networking with other colleagues at our annual congresses.”
“Alltech firmly believes in the power of the younger generations and in their ability to change the world,” says Alltech President Dr. Pearse Lyons. “Through their articles and broadcasts, these young people can bring the latest technological breakthroughs to the farmers and influencers in all parts of the world. It is the adoption of these technologies that will help agriculture bounce back in 2010.”
I’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.
It’s time to look into your photo archives and see if you’ve got a competition shot you’d like to enter into the 2010 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Star Photo Contest.
Special categories and great prizes for:
best portrait
best landscape or nature photo
best production photo
PLEASE NOTE EARLY DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010
For more information visit www.ifaj.org or contact coordinator Charl Van Rooyen at cvanrooy@landbou.com
Sponsored by DeLaval
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SFP, formerly Specialized Fertilizer Products, wants everyone to know that wasted fertilizer is wasted money, and naturally, they have products for growers that can help them see a higher return on investment when added to their current fertilizer mix.
The first product is AVAIL, a phosphorus fertilizer enhancer that when added to the fields in the fall before they are plowed, will help plants absorb phosphorus more effectively. NutriSphere-N is a nitrogen fertilizer which is a key component to a successful nutrient management program.
“Both can be added to what you are normally putting on fields,” said Melanie Acklin with SFP. “Blend it in. Mix it in. Farmers can really see added efficiency from these fertilizers and ideally increased in yield potential and increased return on investment.”
The fertilizers can be applied in spring or fall but Acklin noted that as farmers are getting ready to plant winter wheat, adding AVAIL can help the crop in the spring, especially since a lot of things can happen over the winter like early frost.
Growers can learn more about the products by contacting their local fertilizer dealer or on SFP’s website.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Melanie Acklin here.
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Have you ever summited Mt. Everest? I haven’t but Lance Fox has. He is a technical service veterinarian for Alpharma, and his successes both in his job and in his personal life have trained him to become a natural role model for children across America as part of the Reach Teach Learn ag educational program.
“My role is to educate students and make them more aware of agriculture and agribusiness and share some of my personal adventures and experiences,” Fox told AgWired during the Ag Media Summit.
Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest was a 12 year dream for Fox and he has some great advice for our future leaders, “If you have a dream pursue it. Pursue your passion. If you work hard everything is possible.”
In its second year, the Reach Teach Learn program is designed to provide youth with the information they need to ensure that honest, educated decisions are made. The program consists of two main initiatives including a college student video contest and a high school student essay contest. College students will be able to use imagery to depict current ethanol agricultural practices while for the first time, younger students will provide their perspective writing of an essay on agriculture based on the book, “The Man Who Fed The World.” As far as you know, I’m not a high school student but I will be providing my insights about the book as well.
I was also able to chat with Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader – Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “What we’re really trying to do is reach out to young people in the U.S. is to get them to understand the agriculture industry because they will be the spokespersons in the future. We want them to be more informed in making positive choices and viewpoints because they’ll be the future leaders in developing views about agriculture.”
Mellinger also noted that the ag industry is seeing a lot more public opinion that is not accurate and that they are trying to bring accuracy to the conversation. Agriculture, he says, is a positive industry and still important to the United States.
More than 12 states have signed up to participate in the essay contest and others are welcome to join. You can learn more about Reach Teach Learn on their website. BTW – in addition to my essay on the book, I’ll be submitting a video as well, right here on AgWired.com. Now this you won’t want to miss.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my back-to-back interviews with Jeff Mellinger and Lance Fox here.
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I sat down with Keith Dunn with the United Soybean Board (USB) during the Ag Media Summit to see what their main initiatives currently are. Dunn explained to me the importance of animal agriculture and how supportive the USB was of this industry.
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
Other important elements of the USB program include its work with biofuels as well as a responding to a recent request for referendum. Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the growers requested a referendum on the soybean checkoff and Dunn mentioned that it shows that soybean farmers are very confident in their soybean checkoff and the work that is being done.
Biofuels is a hot topic and one that is very important to USB. “We’re concerned with the new renewable fuels standard and we want to make sure these are based on sound science, factual and will work for the American people.”
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Keith Dunn here.
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A little over a year ago Monsanto made a commitment to people around the world to sustainable agriculture. The company is working on products that will produce more than double current yields while reducing the resources needed to grow the crops by nearly one-third. They are so committed that they launched a website to discuss this topic: www.producemoreconservemore.com.
I was curious to learn more about Monsanto’s initiatives in the sustainability department so I caught up with Kevin Eblen, Vice President Public Policy & Sustainable Yield for Monsanto.
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
Eblen mentioned that the UN has determined that the world will need to produce as much food in the next 50 years that has been produced in the last 10,000 years. That is why Monsanto is working with farmers around the world to help them grow crops that are both sustainable and profitable.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Kevin Eblen here.
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As farmers are getting ready to harvest soon, it’s never too late to begin to think about products for the upcoming year. Nufarm is one of the largest crop protection companies in the world and is primarily at post patent company. After another company’s patent expires, Nufarm brings a similar product to market typically at a better value for the end user.
I was able to learn more about Nufarm’s products during the Ag Media Summit when I sat down with Director, Branding & Marketing Services, Brian Rund.
“This year we introduced 13 new seed treatment products for all the major crops,” said Rund. “We have greatly expanded our product line for range and pasture weed control. We’re also in the process of introducing a very broad range of herbicides for small grasses.”
Nufarm would like everyone to know that they are a very committed player in ag business. “We’re post patent but we’re not generic,” said Rund.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Brian Rund here.
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At the conclusion of the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit there were a number of tours.
Thanks to Denny McClintic I have a photo of the group that went on the South Texas tour. He also sent a few more which have been added to the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit Photo Album. I think I have more coming from the other tours which will be added to the album when I receive them.
Looks like this group had a good time.
Jim Evans, Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, has written a great article about the use of blogs in agricultural communications. It’s titled, “Why and how journalists around the world are using blogs to cover agriculture” and you can find it on the IFAJ website. Here’s an excerpt:
During late 2005 agricultural communications researchers Emily Rhoades and Kelsey Hall conducted what may be the first analysis of agricultural blogs. They analyzed 52 agriculture blogs originating in North America and concluded that agricultural communicators cannot ignore blogging. You can read an abstract of their study and findings at: http://www.aceweb.org/JAC/index.html > Issues > 2007
By early 2009, time spent on social networks and blogs had become the fourth most popular online activity, ahead of personal email. The Nielsen Company reported that, globally, one in every 11 minutes online is accounted for by social network and blogging sites. The share of time accounted for by such sites increased 38% between December 2007 and December 2008. In Brazil, for example, 23% of minutes spent online in December 2008 involved social network and blogging sites. You can review a summary of findings at: http://www.nielsen-online.com/pr_090309.pdf
The IFAJ home page now features a repository of agricultural blogs from IFAJ members everywhere. You can view it at www.ifaj.org > “Join the global agricultural blogosphere”
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The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) would like its producers to get to know them better, says Lynn Heinz, the executive director of communications. The organization serves all the 800,000 beef producers in the country, and is working with ag journalists to help them get their message out. In some cases this is with paid advertising, and in others it is to help them develop story ideas.
Since they are helping journalists come up with story ideas, I thought I’d ask him for a few ideas. So we discussed some of the key issues facing beef producers today.
“One of the things we’ve seen all summer with the economic situation, people have moved away from traditional steaks and those kinds of more expensive product. We’re working with retailers to help them feature those kinds of items. We’re helping consumers understand how to use something like the flatiron were they can still have the steak experience but at a lower cost.”
CBB is also working with exporters to meet the increased demand of Russia, Europe and Asia for middle meats. But this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what CBB is doing to promote its beef producers. To hear more, listen to the full interview with Lynn.
You can see all our pictures in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Lynn here.
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There are a lot of agricultural policy concerns today and the Farm Foundation is taking an active role in helping DC adopt better legislation. The organization notes that agriculture is important and ag policy is important, and their role is to bring divergent views together and provide a forum for discussion. During these discussions, The Farm Foundation lets the best policies arise and then provides the outlet for policy makers to take advantage of these ideas. However, the organization does not lobby, but simply provides the best information for policy makers to use.
I asked Sheldon Jones what key issues they have been dealing with and he mentioned two: food prices and the agriculture’s role in feeding and fueling the world.
“A year ago when food prices were increasing and there were food riots around the world, we commissioned a study from three economists at Purdue on what are the real drivers to food prices. They reviewed literature, assessed the global demand for food and what were the driving factors including fuel, petroleum prices, world stocks, supplies of grain and more.”
The organization issued a report last July which they updated six months later, “What’s Driving Food Prices? and have also issued a report on global food and fuel demand, “The 30 -Year Challenge: Agriculture’s Strategic Role In Feeding and Fueling a Growing World“.
You can see all our pictures in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Sheldon here.
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Our photo album for the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit has been giving us fits the last few days. Flickr is great but every once in a while . . .
So, I’ve got most of our photos re-uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure.
Here’s the link to use for IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit photos:
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
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Several student and young professional awards were given during the IFAJ/AMS summit and one of the most coveted awards, the Forrest Bassford Award was given to Whitney Wallace and is sponsored by LPC. Whitney will be a senior at the University of Missouri this fall and she is an active member of ACT – the AG Communicators of Tomorrow. She will be graduating next May with a degree in Agricultural Journalism with an Ag Economics minor.
I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Whitney, and she is a talented and well spoken woman who has already taken the ag communications industry by storm. For those companies looking for a rare talent, you’d better get in line now, because I suspect that Whitney will be off the market in a blink of an eye!
As such an active and young member of the journalism community, I asked her to give her fellow students some advice.
“Just like I tell the other students at Mizzou, you just gotta jump in an try everything you can. Because we have so many opportunities that we can pick and choose and find so many great little niches of places we can succeed.”
Whitney, I like your style.
You can see the pictures of all the award winners in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Whitney here.
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Thanks to Carly and Joanna, pictured here about to go into Billy Bob’s, our online photo album from this year’s IFAJ/AMS is very full. You’ll find almost 900 pictures in there. Please feel free to use them and if you need a high res version we’ll do our best to get one to you.
I got up early this morning and watched all the photos as a slide show via my Apple TV on my 42″ plasma screen. It felt almost like being there. I could hear the voices and know what they were saying. That happens when you spend a lot of time with good friends and colleagues at an extended event like this each year.
Quasimojo played once again at this year’s event. I’m thinking we should be recording these for future release. What do you think?
Then we could release an annual CD, Best of CD, etc. Perhaps a recording contract with a big label down the road? I don’t know.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
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All registrants to the IFAJ Congress 2009 received a great wild west souvenir to take home with them. These leather note pad holders were all printed with our names. I was registered although I did not get to attend.
Cindy brought mine home. She actually just got home yesterday after attending the APS meeting in Portland, OR right after IFAJ/AMS. She’s starting to know what it feels like to be me when I’m healthy!
If you attended this year’s IFAJ Congress for your first time I’d love to know your thoughts on meeting with fellow ag journalists from other countries. Did you find it helpful? What did you get out of the relationships you made?
Conversely, if you’re an IFAJ member outside the U.S. who attended, what are your thoughts? Was it a good Congress? What do you think about these crazy Americans? Feel free to post comments.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009/Ag Media Summit is sponsored by:
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Now that everyone is home safe and sound from Ft. Worth, you’ll have a little time to read the new books by the IFAJ/AMS lunch speakers. Participants were first treated to a presentation by Julie Wainwright, who is the owner of Smartnow.com. She worked her way up to found Pets.com (how can you forget the sock puppet) and then undergo a very public bankruptcy right as the Internet bubble burst.
But after a few false starts and five big mistakes, she is now back on her feet and spreading encouragement to others. I can’t speak for everyone who attended, but her message definitely resonated with me which is why I’m looking forward to reading her new self-published book, ReBoot My Five Life Changing Mistakes and How I Have Moved On, available on Amazon.com.
While Wainwright’s presentation was fairly serious, on Tuesday we were thoroughly entertained by Scott McKain, who is the vice president of Obsidian Enterprises and the co-founder and principal of The Value Added Institute, a think tank that explores client loyalty. Speaking of which, how do you maintain client loyalty? Through being distinct. McKain has written exhaustively about this topic and is a best selling author.
There are Four Cornerstones of Distinction according to McKain including clarity, creativity, communication and customer experience focus. I don’t have time to go into details but his presentation was not only extremely funny, it was even more insightful. McKain very much believes in the mission of ag journalists, so much so that he has done two things. First, he has made his presentation available; and second, he has made the audio and e-versions of his new book, Collapse of Distinction: stand out and move up while your competition fails, available for free.
You can see pictures from the presentations in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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It’s been an amazing week here in Ft Worth for the largest ever IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. We’ve had some fun times and made long-lasting new friends from around the world but its time to ride into the sunset and say goodbye.
Thanks for letting AgWired be a part of your celebration with special thanks to Novus International, Pioneer and Successful Farming for sponsoring our coverage. You can check out pictures from all the events in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album, and come back to AgWired.com often as we’ll be posting stories about the events during the next few weeks.
We’ll see you next year in Belgium. Cheers!
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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There’s been a lot of stampeding and kicking it up on the dance floor here in Ft. Worth this week during the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. And one company that is really kicking it up is BASF with their new product Kixor. Kixor is currently under development and is being designed for broadleaf weed control. Once it is perfected and available for producers, farmers will able to apply the herbicide prior to crop emergence for burndown or for season-long residual broadleaf control.
To learn more, I spent a little time at the campfire with Dan Westberg, Technical Services Manager for BASF.
“Kixor herbicide technology is a unique chemistry that is specifically designed by BASF to solve the toughest broadleaf weed control problems facing growers today,” explained Westberg. “If you look across the board there are a little over 70 broadleaf weed species. Many of those are resistance or hard to control.”
When the technology comes to market, it will have a wide range of crops it can be used on including corn, sorghum, soybean, wheat, all of the cereals, cotton, follow, treat fruit, and more.
One of the best attributes of Kixor will be the short amount of time for it to take effect – three to five days.
“Kixor herbicide technology will be very unique in that it has both burndown activity and also soil residual activity. So, depending on which crop it will have a very effective burndown and for some crops we can provide a very effective residual effect especially corn,” said Westberg.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
You can listen to my full interview with Dan Westberg here:
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It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
