First up on the program on the final day of the IFAJ was Ruedi Hagmann, BauernZeitung, who spoke on “The Swiss Agricultural Media In Flux.” Right off the bat I’ve got to say that each of the morning’s speakers said things that I think are probably just like you’re going to find anywhere in the world today.
In Ruedi’s case he told us about the fact that there’s a large number of Swiss ag publications still (196 if my notes are correct). That’s a lot. I thought it was interesting though how he said that the internet won’t ever replace printed publications. I actually agree with that. However, he went on to say that only 5 to 10 percent of Swiss farmers use the internet. When I asked where that number (range) comes from he wasn’t specific so I would question that. It’s over 51 percent now in the U-S. He said it was due to the average age of a Swiss farmer being 55. However, that’s about what it is in the United States too! I’d like to see an “official” study on this in Switzerland.
He also told of declining readership for ag publications and declining revenue which he thinks will mean fewer pubs in the future.
Back on the internet thing. I also thought it was interesting that he said that there hasn’t been any money to be made from the internet when it comes to agricultural information. Perhaps the right model hasn’t been presented to advertisers yet?
Any thoughts you have?
AgWired reports on IFAJ Congress 2005 are sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred.
The final day of the 
One of the highlights of an IFAJ Congress is the awards ceremony for the annual photo contest and Star Prize (writing contest). You can view the powerpoint presentation of the awards from this link: 
The photo contest has got to be a difficult one to judge. Kudos to the panel of judges. This year’s first place winner is Adries Gouws of South Africa. You can see the entries in the contest by viewing the powerpoint presentation.
The Star Prize contest for writing this year was won by Gunilla Ander of Sweden.
As you no doubt know, Cindy and I are in Switzerland. Since we’ve been here we’ve only been able to see some CNN coverage of the hurricane aftermath in the south. When I saw the damage to the 
Here’s what it looks like at the top of the Schilthorn. There were lots of clouds (below us) and fog but every once in a while we got a peek at the mountains all around us. This picture was taken by Greg Lamp, Corn & Soybean Digest, by the way. He was closer to the window at our dinner table than me.
The top of the Schilthorn features a revolving restaurant so you are constantly getting a fresh view while you eat. As is the custom for IFAJ, we sat down to a great meal following a reception featuring Swiss beer and wine. For the first time since we got here there was no cheese! This was probably a good thing at this point.
We were just slightly dizzy by the time we got to the top of the 
Once we got to the top there was a large terrace around the restaurant and shops. We could wander around and look at the view. It was pretty foggy so our view was limited but every once in a while the fog would clear enough to see the stunning peaks all around us.
This is what it looks like as you’re swinging through space a few thousand feet above rocks. At one point we could see the car we had just departed from going back down to pick up another load. Meanwhile we were on a new section of cable.
Each stop on the way up to the Schilthorn had its own little shops or restaurants so you didn’t have to go all the way. In fact, at one of the stop they had a very nice looking tavern but we had to just keep moving. It’s a process to get several hundred people up since we filled several cars and only one goes at a time.