| IFAJ More Vibrant Than Ever The IFAJ Executive Committee met in January in Berlin during Green Week, and JoAnn Alumbaugh attended as AAEA's representative. Here is her report from the meeting. The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) bears little resemblance to an organization that might have been called "stodgy" just a few short years ago, thanks to a progressive and dedicated presidium led by President David Markey (Ireland). David, along with Senior Vice President Mike Wilson, Treasurer Markus Rediger, and General Secretary Ulla-Mari Sundelin-Ryytty, has done an outstanding job of challenging IFAJ Executive Committee members to take the organization to a higher level of professional improvement and relevancy, while continuing to create more value for members. Here are just a few of the positive changes that have occurred in recent years: - Through the support of sponsors, IFAJ has made attendance to the annual Congress available to young journalists - An additional meeting of the Executive Committee has provided for more continuity - The Star Prizes for writing and photography attract some of the best talent in the world - The IFAJ Congresses offer more in-depth tours and educational sessions than ever before, making the experience truly valuable for attendees - A greatly improved newsletter, featuring important world issues with perspectives from many countries - The friendships and networking opportunities are invaluable, both personally and professionally - The leadership is constantly working to improve the organization (see Mike Wilson's report below) This year, the IFAJ Congress will be held in Austria and Slovenia. Through the generous support of the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation, 10 stipends are being made available to AAEA members to attend the Congress. This is a tremendous opportunity to see the diverse agriculture in this part of Europe and network with journalists from all over the world. We hope to have a large delegation of AAEA members to offer the official welcome to Fort Worth in 2009, when we will host the Congress in the United States. I can't stress enough the value of being directly involved in IFAJ, and see this as one of the important benefits of being an AAEA member. I strongly encourage you to take an active role - first, by applying for one of the stipends, and second, by volunteering to help with the 2009 IFAJ Congress in Fort Worth. A Strategy to Move IFAJ Forward Following is a report by Mike Wilson, senior vice president of IFAJ, on the 10-point plan that was presented in Berlin. Please read through the plan and send your comments to either Mike mwilson@farmprogress.com or JoAnn joann.alumbaugh@farms.com. We urge you to learn more about IFAJ and take advantage of this membership benefit. The IFAJ Presidium unveiled a new 10-point plan to move IFAJ forward at the recent business meeting held in Berlin during Green Week. The plan includes a new redesign of the IFAJ Web site, a new part-time executive secretary and a global member database. The presidium presented its plan to the executive committee (EC), which discussed and approved the basic principles behind the plan. The presidium asked the EC to discuss the plan with members of each guild. It presented a timetable for implementing the plan. "The organization is now more active and dynamic in serving member needs, but we need to continue to find new ways to serve the needs of members," says Vice President Mike Wilson (USA). President David Markey (Ireland) noted that IFAJ is experiencing growth in new regions of the world, such as Argentina in South America, and sees potential growth in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. "As new countries join IFAJ, they will bring new needs for our organization to serve," he says. "We must also serve the changing needs of current members. Globalization means members will have changing needs and new technology, such as Internet, email, e-newsletter and an electronic database, gives us new ways to solve these issues." Managing a global, yet all-volunteer organization such as IFAJ is no simple task. That was one reason why the presidium plan provides funding for a part-time executive secretary to handle member needs such as press cards and dues payments, answer queries from members, meet with sponsors, and maintain a global member database to facilitate more efficient communication with members. The executive secretary will also update country contact lists, organize regular meetings, and meet with Messe Berlin (sponsors of the Green Week IFAJ business meeting) and host country organizers. "Some of the 10 points are achievable in the next year and some are aspirational - in other words, they are things we would like to achieve soon but are not sure if we have the resources now to develop them," says Markey. Timeframe for completion The timeframe for completion of the 10-point plan is ambitious. A job description and application for the part-time executive secretary has been developed and will be sent to executive committee members within the next week. An adhoc committee, including the presidium and Norway's Rasmus Lang-Ree and Czech Republic's Dana Vecerová, has been assigned to interview and hire for the position. "We hope to hire the new executive secretary by April," says Wilson. Meanwhile a Web site briefing paper has been developed and sent out for bidding among Web site designers. "The project will be assigned by mid February, we hope to have a completed redesigned Web site by May 1, 2008," says Wilson. IFAJ has already received sponsorship through Delaval for new brochures and their translation. Those are expected to be designed and printed by May 1 as well. The new Star Prize for Broadcast will be organized in coming months by the Professional Development committee with leadership from Great Britain's Don Gomery. The IFAJ hopes to lock in a sponsor for this new award program. The first contest and award will be given in 2009. The plan also includes a new mission statement for IFAJ: The purpose of IFAJ is to serve its individual members and offer a platform for professional development and international networking for agricultural journalists and communicators all over the world. Ten-point plan to move IFAJ forward 1. Presidium individuals assigned as ex-officio roles in committees: President- host country liaison; vice president - communications; general secretary - membership; treasurer - finance; past president - sponsorship strategy. 2. Maintain the committee structure; executive committee continues to serve in leadership role and is given job descriptions (i.e. must attend and participate twice annual IFAJ meetings, must encourage members to attend Congress, etc.). 3. Hire part-time secretary to take on some existing work, handle new activities we could not do before, support the presidium and committee chairs, work with sponsors and country association secretaries. 4. Membership committee expanded and renamed "membership outreach and benefits" committee to address not only membership recruitment and freedom-of-press strategy but also manage ongoing benefits like press cards, etc. Membership committee to identify target countries for expansion. Finance committee dropped with responsibilities given to IFAJ treasurer who will organize small subcommittee to focus on sponsorship/revenue. 5. Modernize the Web site to better satisfy the needs of a global membership including basic information on home page (only) in multiple languages and downloadable brochures. Include a photo section with freelance/pay option and useful contacts for ag journalists. 6. Finance committee dissolved with responsibilities given to IFAJ treasurer who will organize three-person subcommittee to focus on sponsorship/revenue; past-president to develop long-term sponsorship strategy. 7. Expand awards program based on member feedback, including new Star Prize for Broadcast and new Alltech Animal Agriculture Journalist contest 8. Explore pros and cons of holding IFAJ press tours, including mini Professional Development workshops.
9. New promotional brochures in multiple languages promoting IFAJ, part of a package of materials (including DVD) to be made available to new sponsors or potential member countries (English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Russian) 10. Develop an ongoing database of members to better communicate IFAJ member benefits and make sub/membership fee billing more efficient. As the database includes privacy issues it would have to first be discussed and ratified by individual guilds.
What Goes Around Note: This is a commentary JoAnn Alumbaugh wrote for Farms.com while she was in Berlin for the IFAJ meeting in January: I am in Berlin for a meeting of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and today we heard from the EU Commissioner of Agriculture, Mariann Fischer-Boel, who gave a very different message from the one I heard two years ago. The countries that make up the European Union have some of the same challenges we face in North America: Production of biofuels is tightening the availability of feed grains for livestock producers and food manufacturers. That means the EU needs to import more grains, but because officials there have taken such a strong stand against genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), they are now forced to back-track a bit. Two years ago, Fisher-Boel came out strongly against GMOs. At that time, she said European consumers didn't want these products. Now, however, she says if GMOs are approved by the EU's Food Safety Administration (FSA), then it means those products have proven they are not damaging to human health or the environment. "We have food authorities in the FSA with the best scientific knowledge available," she told us in a press conference this afternoon. "GMO products will be labeled as GMO, or as having GMO ingredients, so consumers can decide. "The increase in food prices is cause for consternation," Fischer-Boel continued, "but the commission acted quickly by abolishing set-aside. This will put another 6 to 7 percent of land into production. The reasons for the increase are structural: There is increased consumption of white meat (pork and chicken) in India and China, and more feed grains are being used in the United States to produce ethanol (though only about 2 percent of cereal production in the EU is used for ethanol). "We need the first generation of biofuels, but we need to invest heavily in second generation research." Basically, this was a subtle way of letting us know that the earlier denial of GMO products was nothing more than a trade barrier, because now that the EU needs more grain, it's all right to import these products. The problem will be persuading European consumers that GMOs are safe, when the government has denied this fact in the past. Fischer-Boel admitted that GMOs are a political hot potato, but she hopes future decisions are based on science. That is a big step forward from the EU politics of the past, and represents a more open approach to trade. The EU recognizes the importance of continuing the World Trade Organization talks, and Fischer-Boel sounds ready to come to the table regarding fewer subsidies. However, she believes that even without a WTO agreement, "it would be possible" to extend trade promotion authority, which is just as important. No doubt about it, the EU is fortunate to have someone like Fischer-Boel as its representative. She is intelligent, articulate and truly has the best interest of EU farmers in mind. In fact, her husband is a farmer, so any initiatives she might suggest will likely need to pass muster at home as well. |