By Kurt Lawton, AAEA International Committee Chair & IFAJ 2019 Co-Chair

Planning committee chairs for IFAJ 2019 Minnesota Congress are starting to ramp up action plans and set initial deadlines for this global agricultural communicators meeting in Minneapolis on July 24-31, 2019 – held in conjunction with our annual Ag Media Summit.

Current work entails initial program content development and tour visits, along with our sponsorship committee (led by Gregg Hillyer, Willie Vogt and Karen McMahon) that seeks investment from companies who want to reach this global audience from 40+ IFAJ member countries (http://ifaj.org).

Regarding content, program chair Kenna Rathai and her committee are working on many great speaker ideas for both professional improvement and newsmaker topics – desired by both AMS and IFAJ attendees. A wide variety of agricultural issues will be addressed, from technology and research to energy, water, trade, food, sustainability and more. And our highly popular professional improvement tracks will run the gamut of all communications skills.

On the tour front, co-chairs Karen McMahon and Greg Lamp have begun to engage their committee to include a great variety of tours during the Congress – from local city tours that showcase Minnesota history to agricultural tours that highlight grain trade, row-crop farms, beef/swine/dairy production, precision technology, breweries, distilleries, and much more. Also in the works are three post-Congress tours: California, Wisconsin and Minnesota/Iowa/South Dakota.

If you want to get involved, we always have room for volunteers among our 15 committees who plan this big event. Contact co-chairs Carey Brown ([email protected]/859-278-0899) or Kurt Lawton ([email protected]/952-851-4667) to sign-up today.