I like the way Fran Fischler, President of the IFAJ Congress 2008, started his remarks at the end of the event. “Everything has already been said but not by everybody.” He then proceeded to thank all the people who worked to make this Congress a reality, including all the sponsors. He pointed out how different farming is around the world. …
Slovenia Minister of Agriculture
Greeting the IFAJ Congress at our first dinner in Portoroz was the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Iztok Jarc. He had a challenge because just prior to our dinner the weather changed completely and we had a drenching lightning storm. It forced the restaurant to make some major adjustments to the settings but finally we got everyone under cover …
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. …
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 …
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 …
The Blue Ribbon Cookbook Blog
Some people are just meant to be bloggers and Liz Harfull is one of them. She’s the author of the IFAJ e-newsletter and an agricultural journalist down under. I just got this message from Liz so I thought I’d point you to her new blog, The Blue Ribbon Cookbook. By the way, I have just set up my first blog …
BASF From Brazil
The Farm Progress Show had a lot of international visitors like these guys from Brazil. I just happened to walk in to the BASF tent and met them. Several of their group actually work for BASF in Brazil. Their tour leader is Fernando Dellazari (3rd from right). He says they had 17 guys on this trip. I asked him what …
The Art and Science of Soil Conservation
The air we breath is often taken for granted. And, Peggy James, Natural Resources Conservation Service liaison to The Nature Conservancy says, so too are non-profits. “Non-profits are like air,” Peggy said. “They’re all around us but we hardly notice it. They are an integral part of a healthy, artistic, viably economic, productive society working towards sustainability.” Sustainability, Peggy says, …
Forecasting for Farming Success
There are two kinds of information that are important for Pessl Instruments: “ground truth” and expected forecasts. The Austria-based company claims that it offers a one-of-a-kind tool for farmers: “What we do is we measure the ground truth,” Gottfried Pessl, President of Pessl Instruments said. “That means what’s going on actually on the field of the farmers but we now …