The IFAJ professional improvement session is now underway here at Green Week. These panelists will each be making remarks before things open up for a general discussion. The topic is, “How journalists can work more effectively with public relations professionals and vice versa.” The panelists include:
The Whole IFAJ Group
Here’s the whole group gathered together at the Green Week press center meeting about the very important things facing the IFAJ. We’ve got committee reports going on right now. Mike Wilson is discussing the communications committee. One of the things the organization is looking into is a change in the IFAJ website to make it easier to post current information and perhaps have more people involved in doing that. You can be sure that I’ve voiced my ideas on this issue!
Agricultural Production Displays
Some of the best looking vegetables I’ve ever seen are growing indoors here in one of the main agriculture buildings. I wish my garden looked like this. But I guess it would if I had a guy in overalls (there were a lot them) manually grooming and treating each plant every day. This building looks like a collaboration of many companies and you could essentially follow agricultural production through the whole chain from field to plate since you had crops, animals, processing and even a small grocery store set up to show how the consumer where their food actually comes from.
Biofuels Pavilion Features Ethanol
I had heard that Green Week had a whole pavilion devoted to bio energy this year. When I got there I found that it had more booths dedicated to things like wood pellet burning stoves for heat and a number of solar panel energy companies than what we think of such as ethanol and biodiesel.
Bio Products Pavilion
On Thursday at Green Week I finally had a chance to wander around some of the pavilions and booths. I started with the agricultural area first and walked right into a biobased products section. I’m not sure what the exact definition of “bio” is around the world or if it actually is different in different countries. I say this because this display was of organic dairy products and that doesn’t fit into my definition of bio-based products. In fact, I would say that true organic production implies to me that bio-type products weren’t used in the making of these items.
Acres of Food
If you’re interested in acres of food booths then Green Week is the place to be. It’s really hard to convey how large this show is. This booth is just a representative sample of what you’ll find here.
All About the IFAJ Congress in Japan
Right after our sushi lunch which did include some of the best sake I’ve ever tasted (really didn’t think I liked it) I got to interview Yamada Masaru who is one of the main organizers for the IFAJ Congress 2007.
Sushi Lunch in Berlin
After getting some proposals out and doing a little email catch up this morning I got to the Green Week press center in time for an excellent Japanese box lunch. The IFAJ executive committee was given a presentation on this fall’s IFAJ Congress 2007 which will be in Japan.
Late Night With IFAJ
It got a little late out in Berlin last night with my IFAJ buddies. Here’s a few of them. We braved the rain and wind to go out to a very nice dinner. And then the Prez decided we should stop on the way back to the hotel for “just one more.”
EU Commissioner of Ag Mariann Boel
We heard from a lot of politicians today but the one I think who had the clearest message was the EU Commissioner of Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel. She’s a pretty straight talking lady and I recorded her whole press conference for you. Later in the afternoon I got to interview her personally too.