You can only receive the American Agricultural Editors’ Association electronic newsletter “The ByLine” if you’re a member. It’s one of the benefits. In the latest issue Betsy Freese, who is livestock editor of Successful Farming and immediate past president of AAEA and also a member of the AAEA Strategic Planning Committee, points out how important it is for the organization to make sure it’s meeting the needs of its members. She rightly makes a point about how dull “strategic planning” is for most people (not me, I’m one of the sickos who actually likes planning).

Instead of launching into a boring strategic planning description she uses a neat story to point out how much has changed in agricultural journalism. I was lucky to have a talented young student from Iowa State University, Alicia Clancy, working as my apprentice this past year. Recently we were pulling together visuals for a story, and I mentioned that I had some old slides we could use. “Slides?” Alicia asked. “What would we do with those?” She had never worked with slides. In fact, she had never worked with a story that didn’t involve digital images, e-mail transmission, InDesign software, and information collected on the Web. I started to tell her how I had written my papers on a manual typewriter in journalism classes at Iowa State, but I could see her eyes glazing over.

Betsy, I remember slides only too well as I’m sure many of our readers do. I can’t remember when I took a picture with a “film” camera last though. The story makes a great point that I hope all ag groups of any kind will learn from. Look at who’s going to be taking your place someday soon. They don’t have the same experiences and they’re growing up in a digital world. Are you planning how your organization is going to meet their needs?

If you want to have input in the AAEA strategic planning process, visit their website and contact any of the leaders or committee members.