The latest IFAJ E-News is out and it contains a summary of the results of an online member survey that was just conducted. The results are interesting. Here’s a selection of what the survey found:
While we only received a small number of responses, the trends were clear. Getting your stories published, limited career opportunities and low salaries all rated highly, each selected by almost 47% of respondents. Limited training or professional development opportunities were important, but did not rate as high, at 33%. Respondents were less concerned about personal safety (only 7%).
Some comments were published too like these:
- “Readers quite often don’t know the difference between an ad and an article. Some papers are owned by the national farmer’s organisations and the companies that advertise sometimes expect to have news articles written about them, otherwise they won’t continue to advertise.”
- “A decline in advertising revenues continually pressures editors to do more with less. That means fewer staffers and less time to produce the quality stories it takes to compete in today’s competitive ag journalism arena.”
- “Low salaries, especially with entry-level positions, makes it difficult to compete with advertising and public relations agencies that pay more. Hiring qualified employees is just more difficult.”
I’m betting that all journalists feel these same concerns today. This new media world is changing the rules. Add in the consolidation that’s taking place with media companies as well as corporations and things just aren’t going to be the same. I look at these times as ones of opportunity though. I’d rather adapt and grow than sit back, complain and wish for the good old days.
Thanks to Arnold Huelsmann, 
Here’s Don Dalton, President of the 
There’s lots of equipment on display here at the International Poultry & Feed Expos. 
The word ethanol has been used many times here at the International Poultry & Feed Expos. Often in positive terms but not always. The word was prominently displayed on the backdrop to the 
I’ve heard about iPod vending machines but have never seen one until this morning walking into the Georgia World Congress Center for the last day of the International Poultry and Feed Expos.
In the Flame Engineering booth they had some pretty cool giveaway lip balm. It’s got a funky name but it works really well.
When you want to sanitize your poultry house there’s nothing quite like using a blow torch to get the job done. That’s basically what Flame Engineering’s Red Dragon Poultry House Sanitizer does using propane. It’s pulled through the house by tractor and was developed with the assistance of the 
It has been a long day in Atlanta. Things started out with a 2 hour backup on the highway getting in to the Georgia World Congress Center for the Expos. But I finally made it. Then I had a wonderful lunch with 
The President of the