This morning the IFAJ Star prizes for writing and photography were awarded. I don’t think any of the top winners were attending though so we had stand-ins to take their awards home. I’ll try to find a list of them to publish later. As with a number of Congresses I’ve attended, it’s looking like our schedule will be pretty spotty …
IFAJ Member Survey Results
During the morning session here at the IFAJ Congress we were presented with the results of an online survey conducted for IFAJ by OEKonsult, Communication & Consulting. One of the presenters was Kristin Allwinger, Business Development. She says they had very good participation from IFAJ members and the goal was to find out how important various topics are to them. …
IFAJ Congress President Franz Fischler
The President of the IFAJ Congress 2008 is Franz Fischler, former Commissioner of Agriculture for the EU. Last year in Japan at the IFAJ Congress he promised us some fine Austrian wines. Tonight he made good on that with a toast at our dinner. Prior to the dinner I spoke to him and he said that attendance exceeded their expectations. …
Touring Downtown Graz, Austria
During the first day of the IFAJ Congress in Austria we went on group walking tours of Graz. Here’s Cindy and me in front of the clock tower on Schloßberg, a hill overlooking the city. Thanks to Harlan Persinger for taking our picture. There were about 20 of us in our group. I’ve got a video clip to share a …
Annual IFAJ Delegates Meeting
The IFAJ delegates business meeting is taking place now. It’s the organization’s annual opportunity for each country to hear from the executive committee and have a say in the business of the organization. It looks like we’ve got a good showing. You get a true flavor of the international makeup of IFAJ when you see all the country flags hanging …
IFAJ Congress Welcome
It’s the first day of IFAJ Congress 2008 activities and the good news is, our luggage arrived! This morning the Executive Committee is meeting and after lunch we’ll have an IFAJ delegates business meeting. I’m going to try to cover that. In the meantime, the welcome committee is greeting attendees in the lobby of our hotel. I spoke with one …
Austrian Corn Greetings
As we arrived in Graz yesterday for the IFAJ Congress and headed from the airport to the hotel, the first landscape that greeted us was corn. Even though they are farther north latitude-wise than even Minnesota, their corn is pretty close to harvest at this point. Once we checked in, we found a Kornland yogurt bar awaiting us on the …
Checked In For IFAJ In Austria
All right. We’re here in Austria. Let the IFAJ games begin! After I get this post done I’m going to be taking a nap for a while. Cindy’s already there. Our flight out of St. Louis was 2 hours delayed yesterday and that meant we missed our flight out of Chicago. So we were re-routed via Frankfurt and when we …
IFAJ Congress Kicks Off Wednesday
Cindy and I are on our way to Austria/Slovenia. This year’s IFAJ Congress is looking like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I just hope we get good internet access and have a little time to relax. Those were two issues we had trouble with last year. Here’s some of the activities on the agenda: Reception with typical …
Almost Time For IFAJ Congress 2008
Cindy and I got to know Franz Fischler, former EU Commissioner of Agriculture, at last year’s IFAJ Congress in Japan. Prior to his work with the EU he was Austria’s Minster of Agriculture and Forestry. This year he’s President of the IFAJ Congress in Austria/Slovenia. I would like to invite you to the 52nd IFAJ Congress “From the mountains to …