I just have to give a plug for this guy. At lunch he was creating tasty little flowerets of an excellent cheese. He’s not a monk, just looks like one. That’s because this cheese was originally made by the monks of the Monastery of Bellelay. They don’t anymore but the tradition continues. The cheese comes with the little “pirouette” tool that you turn and slice the cheese off in a ribbon. You can order it online now from Tete De Moine.
Cheese Fest For Lunch
After the morning general sessions we all had time to browse various exhibits set up outside the main hall. Lunch was also served. This was a cheese fest! I don’t know how many kinds of cheese there were. I tried them all and they were all delicious.
Flood Effects Still Felt
I mentioned before how there was tremendous flooding in Switzerland just a week or so ago. Outside our hotel here at the IFAJ Congress they’re still pumping water out of the basement. This has been going on since we arrived without stop. The hotel is on the edge of Lake Thun and became a temporary island during the worst of it.
Singing At The IFAJ Dinner
I mentioned singing in a previous post and that’s what we did at supper. The first song was a German song – Mir Senne heis lustig.
Founder of IFAJ
Honored at last night’s dinner was Rolf Haeberli, Switzerland, who is one of the founders of IFAJ. In fact, Rolf, who’s a young 85 years old, says they got this organization started in Paris in 1956. I didn’t want to tell him that I wasn’t even born yet! Way to go Rolf.
IFAJ Planning Committee Chairman
Giving us a hearty welcome before dinner was the IFAJ Congress planning committee chairman, Hans Mueller. He did a great job in at least 2 languages as I recall. In fact, that’s something that really strikes you at an international conference like this. The diversity of language. There are almost 300 people here from over 30 countries! I think I heard that we have new members attending from Nepal even. This is an excellent opportunity to meet with and talk to ag journalists from other countries. I’m sure we’re making contacts that will last a lifetime.
Berne Minister of Economic Affairs
Before dinner opening day we heard from Elisabeth Zolch-Balmer, Minister of the Department of Economic Affairs and a member of the government of the Canton of Berne. Elisabeth talked about how the government is working to save and restore small Swiss farms through the use of payments. She said they’ve had a real decline in the number of these small farms but that it has stabilized. The farms are actually important to more than just the agricultural industry. They’re very important to tourism as well.
Swiss Yodeling
Besides the alpine horns we were treated to authentic Swiss yodeling. I didn’t get the name of our yodeler but you can of course listen to her.
The Alpine Horns
I’ve seen these horns before but usually on display. Here at the dinner site we were able to see/hear them in action. These two played them very well.
IFAJ Press Room
The IFAJ main hotel is the Seepark, where I’m staying. I couldn’t get internet access to work in my room but there was an extra DSL cable in the press room. Here you can see two people hard at work. On the left is Diane Johnson, executive director of the Livestock Publications Council and Mariann Back Nielsen, consultant with 2vejs kommunikation.