Virtual Expert: Gil Gullickson

Gil Gullickson of Successful Farming magazine received AAEA's highest writing honor - the Writer of the Year Award - in 2006. He also placed first in the Technical Feature category in the 2006 AAEA Writing Awards Program.

The planning stage: Why/how did you choose the topic? What were your goals going into the story?

Resistance to agricultural herbicides first occurred over 35 years ago, when farmers noticed atrazine wouldn't control certain weeds like it used to. Over time, weed resistance has developed to several other chemistries as well. Weed resistance follows a predictable pattern. A brand new herbicide controls weeds so well that farmers use it year after year. After a few years, it naturally selects weed biotypes that are able to resist the herbicide. Over time, these biotypes multiply until the weed species develops widespread resistance to the chemistry.

The same pattern has developed with glyphosate. The development and farmer acceptance of glyphosate-tolerant technology - first released in the mid-1990s - rivals the introduction of the tractor or hybrid seed corn. Applying a herbicide that kills all plants except the crop seemed like a dream come true. And the technology still does a great job of controlling weeds.

However, the high rate of use of glyphosate is leading to an increasing number of resistant weeds. The goal of my story was to point out ways to forestall resistance so that farmers could continue to enjoy the excellent weed control that this technology brings.

Fact-gathering: How did you find/choose sources? Did you interview face-to-face, phone, e-mail, and which works best? Do you record interviews? Any tips for getting good quotes? When do you know it's time to stop researching?

I knew I wanted to write about this subject in the spring of 2005. It was a subject of concern for many weed scientists. I collected interviews from meetings I attended and farmers I interviewed during the summer and fall of 2005. The final meeting I attended was in January 2006. That meeting featured speakers that formed the bulk of comments/quotes in the story. These meetings also led to follow-up interviews that were a mixture of face-to-face and phone.

I use all three forms of interviews - face-to-face, phone and e-mail. Face-to-face interviews form the bulk of my stories, but phone and e-mail are good tools for double-checking quotes and last-minute checking.

As far as getting good quotes, I try and tailor the interview more like a conversation than an interview. My favorite interviewer is CNN's Larry King. He gets so immersed in the interviews that it's more like a conversation. He just has a natural sense of curiosity. And the more you can make an interview seem like a conversation, the more good quotes will surface.

I don't have a formula for when it's time to stop researching and start writing. I always try to ask myself if I have what the farmer needs to know, and then I start writing.

Writing stage: Any tricks to conceiving/writing leads? Do you outline before you start writing? What about writing style? Do you do a lot of re-writes? Do you like sidebars? Do you write at home, office, away from distractions? Do you have a "sounding board" or editor for critique/advice? How do you fact-check?

I always try and come up with a lead that grabs the reader's attention. I'm fortunate to work with a crew at Successful Farming where creativity is encouraged.

In this story, the lead hit me at the meeting I attended in January 2006. Aaron Hager, a University of Illinois Extension weed specialist, was talking about a weed that was resistant to several different types of chemistry. The message was that if farmers did not take measures to manage glyphosate, eventually this weed could be controlled only by tillage.

For some reason, I associated this weed with a gap-toothed, red-haired high school classmate of mine who continually gave the teachers and principal grief. I had visions of his face appearing on this weed, sticking his tongue out at the farmer as he/she tried to control it. I decided to open the story with this folksy lead. I know it would get the message across about a fairly technical subject when Paula Barbour, who first proofs our stories, came over to my desk laughing about the lead.

I don't outline a story. I just write, write, write, and then chop, chop, chop. Writing the whole story is the hard part - whittling it down is the easier part. The chopping part is my rewrite process.

The question of style is a good one. When I write a story for Successful Farming magazine, I always keep in mind we want to encourage success. After that, though, I just try and write in a way that the farmer will understand the concept. I think that if that you're so locked into a writing style, you can pay too much attention to keeping within that style that you lose sight of what the farmer needs to know.

We like sidebars, so I'm always looking for ways to split out a story.

As far as writing, I write mostly in the office. We have a great office environment where I can get things done. There are times, though, where I do take my laptop home and write there, particularly in the middle of double-ups.

I do use my co-workers and supervisors for a sounding board on subjects. I remember on this story that I bounced the headline off my supervisor, Gene Johnston. Rich Fee, another editor who also works next to my office, answered some technical questions I had on this story.

I normally send out check copies to my sources via e-mail. On short quotes, I often check over the phone.

Give a little background about your professional career, value of AAEA involvement, networking with colleagues.

I actually started out as an agricultural education major at South Dakota State University. I switched to agronomy in my junior year, as I was a lot more interested in growing things than in teaching kids. I also took a few journalism classes because I liked writing. I also worked on the student newspaper at SDSU and covered agriculture. I liked the combination and looked for a job in the field after I graduated. I didn't have to move far - the Dakota Farmer had a position open right in Brookings, SD, that I accepted six weeks after graduation.

I attended my first AAEA meeting in Kansas City in October 1983. I didn't really become involved in AAEA for several years. I started entering its writing and photography categories in the late 1980s. Trying to measure up to the industry's best challenged me, and this led me to become more involved in the association. I've served on AAEA's board of directors and chaired several committees. Serving in these positions has led to numerous networking opportunities that have benefited me.

To me, being active in AAEA goes hand-in-hand with my job. Even in the years when I worked in another field, I always kept up my membership and attended the annual meetings. This kept my contact in the industry alive and also led to many freelance opportunities. I always knew I wanted to get back in the industry full-time at some point, so I was ready to go when a position with Successful Farming magazine came along in January 2005.

Any other advice for students; for instance, your views on maintaining ethical standards?

Write, write, write, and shoot, shoot, shoot, are the best ways I can advise students to get in the business. The only way you get better is by practicing writing and photography.

Regarding ethics, there are lots of "do nots" and "must nots" that can be written on the subject. I think, though, having good ethics involves following your own moral compass about what's right and wrong and keeping your word. If you do that, the rest falls into place.