Aww. Isn’t he (?) cute? He wants you to visit an Alpaca farm. Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) invites you to visit their member farms and ranches on National Alpaca Farm Days on September 24th and 25th. This is a unique opportunity for the public to explore the many aspects of the alpaca livestock industry in the United States …
Dine Out For Farms Enrollment Deadline
It’s time again for the American Farmland Trust, Dine Out for Farms event. Dine Out for Farms week (Oct. 16-22) celebrates the connection between restaurants and the farmers they source from, while raising money to save farms and farmland. The deadline for restaurants across the country to enroll in Dine Out for Farms is Sept. 30. Please visit www.farmland.org/dineout for …
Illinois Commodity Groups Support Evans Endowed Chair at U of IL
After just seeing Jim Evans last week at the 2011 IFAJ Congress it was nice to see this large gift to the James F. Evans Endowed Chair in Agricultural Communications at the University of Illinois. Five Illinois agriculture groups jointly announced today a more than $28,000 award to a University of Illinois joint initiative between the College of Agricultural, Consumer …
USFRA Releases Consumer/Farmer Survey Results
Today the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance released the results of a survey they conducted in July/August. They surveyed 2,417 consumers and 1,002 farmers/ranchers, both on a nationwide basis. The graphic below shows a comparison of the top five things consumers want more information about with the top five things farmers/ranchers think are most important to educate consumers about. You …
Canadian Agriculture 101
While attending the 2011 IFAJ Congress one of our panel discussions was titled, “Canadian Agriculture 101.” First up was Jack Wilkinson, farm community leader and member of the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame, pictured at the podium along with Richard Doyle, Executive Director, Dairy Farmers of Canada and President, International Dairy Federation and Jay Bradshaw, Syngenta Canada. I thought I’d …
IFAJ Japan Relief Effort Very Successful
During the delegate meeting of the IFAJ Congress we heard how things are going in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami disaster. As you may know, IFAJ helped organize a call for support and the results were €12,072 Euros being contributed to relief efforts! The donation will be managed by the Japan Agricultural Journalists Association. With us is a delegation …
Farmers Fighting Poverty
One of the organizers for the IFAJ Master Class and Boot Camp program is Cees van Rij (pictured left), Agriterra. Cees is from the Netherlands. Cees says his organization is guided by Dutch farmer groups and cooperatives and believes that farmers can do a lot to work with people in poverty stricken areas to help them. That led to the …
USFRA Announces The Food Dialogues
Are you ready to talk about food? The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is. On Sept. 22 they’re holding The Food Dialogues. During the event you’re encouraged to follow the Twitter hashtag: #FoodD and participate! During the Farm Progress Show last week USFRA held a press conference to announce the upcoming event. In the photo is General Manager, Hugh Whaley …
Illinois Keep it for the Crop 2025 Program Announced
The Illinois Corn Growers tent was the location for a press announcement for the “Keep it for the Crop by 2025” program. Illinois agriculture organizations announced today a new, collaborative program to promote, implement and track the rate of adoption of enhanced nutrient stewardship practices by Illinois agricultural producers. “Keep it for the Crop by 2025” will focus on the …
FFA Update At Farm Progress Show
I ran into DeLoss Jahnke, FFA Marketing/Communication Specialist (center), at the Farm Progress Show. I had not seen DeLoss since shortly after I left the Brownfield Network once upon a time. At that time he was our Indiana reporter. With him was Geoffrey Miller who works with him in communications at FFA. The guys were out at the show to …