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The president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Mike Wilson of Farm Progress Companies opened the general session of the 2009 Congress in Fort Worth Saturday morning with a few words about the direction of the organization.
Mike reported on the further development of the IFAJ website and plans for future congresses that may include the first ever congress in South America. “We’re trying to go to as many different countries as possible,” Mike said. IFAJ is adding two new countries this year – Slovenia and Kenya.
He also talked about a history of IFAJ which is being compiled. During an interview with me, Mike related how in the ’60s the United States first became involved with the group, which originally started in Europe over 50 years ago. “It was called the International Union of Agricultural Journalists and when the Americans were approached and they said we will join but we really have a problem with the word ‘union’ so they changed it to ‘federation’ and the Americans became a part of it.”
He also talked about hiring the first IFAJ part time executive secretary Connie Siemes from Holland and what that has done to help free up the officers to do less paperwork and more member work.
Listen to an interview with Mike here: