By Elaine Shein, ACN International Committee Chairwoman
On Jan. 26, an IFAJ Executive Meeting was held via Zoom. COVID-19 has led to all these meetings being virtual since late February of 2020, but currently the IFAJ Congress is still scheduled to go ahead this summer in Denmark. (See more in this issue of the Byline and also by going to https://ifaj2020.dk).
The Denmark meeting is an important one: the Delegate Assembly, during the Annual Congress, will elect members of the Presidium. Nominations will open in March. Steve Werblow, from the U.S., is currently the vice-president serving on the Presidium and has been doing a great job representing our guild as well as helping IFAJ do more for its members.
The following are some of the highlights from the latest IFAJ Executive Meeting.
IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award Deadline Extended
The IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award nominations has been extended to Feb. 4, since few people have applied so far (Hint: If you’re interested, or know someone else that could be a good candidate, let’s get in some applications!) Candidates age 35 years old and under are eligible. This is an incredible experience and includes attending a unique boot camp at Denmark’s meeting. See more information and the application form at https://www.ifaj.org/our-programmes/young-leaders/.
IFAJ Conducts Survey
IFAJ is doing an important survey on education, training, and professional development needs. Here’s your chance to share your thoughts on what you would like to see the organization do in the future, plus your priorities and interests. Whether you’d like more multimedia training, advice for freelancers or to develop leadership skills, the task force has created a survey and wants to hear from you. See more and participate at https://www.ifaj.org/survey-on-education-training-and-professional-development/42700/.
IFAJ Star Prize Award Now Accepting Entries
Looking for a contest that helps show your work to the rest of the world and earn accolades as the best? The IFAJ Star Prize contest is now open to entries. The deadline is March 10.
While most of the categories can have only one entry per guild (ex. print) and ACN usually enters winners from our own annual awards competition to be our official entries in those categories, the photography category will now be open to members entering their own photos in the three categories. More information and the entry forms are at https://www.ifaj.org/contests-and-awards/.
Proposed “Buddy System” to Help Quorum Issues
IFAJ has grown from 33 to 56 member guilds since 2015. While this is exciting to truly become a more global organization, it has also led to some challenges to raise financial resources to support participation. More often than not, there has been a lack of quorum, as defined by IFAJ’s constitution, at physical or virtual meetings.
The Governance Committee (which I serve on) has held several meetings reviewing different options to solve this issue. We have looked at several ways to change the proxy system. For example, having pre-assignment, regional proxies, or a “buddy system” involving two or three guilds, to having an adjustable quorum or lower quorum.
There are pros and cons to each of these ideas. Some can be done immediately, while others need constitutional changes and would take longer to impose. The recommendation from the committee was to go with a buddy system for now, so guilds can support each other and represent countries that can’t attend meetings.
IFAJ’s Executive Committee is currently voting on this through an electronic vote and the results should be known soon.
How will the “Buddy System” affect our guild? Often ACN has been selected as a proxy for other guilds. The proposal would formalize it, as well as create a better support system and way to work with other guilds prior to meetings.
IFAJ Newsletter
As an IFAJ member, you can always check out the latest IFAJ news at https://www.ifaj.org, but you are also eligible to receive a quarterly newsletter that updates you on activities. Sign up at https://www.ifaj.org/english-newsletter/.
The newsletter includes winning entries from past Star Prize winners, information on professional development opportunities, details on other regional or guild activities taking place in other parts of the world, news on the fight for press freedom by fellow ag communicators, and updates on the IFAJ Congress.
In the latest IFAJ newsletter issue, ACN Board Member Martha Mintz, who won the 2021 Star Prize for Photography, shares how she got the photo in the Palouse region of Washington State. There’s also a link to see more of her photos.
IFAJ Portal
Want to participate more in the organization through discussion forums, network with ag communicators around the world, get a press card, or maybe even let people know you’re available for freelancing or looking for a freelancer for your publication? Sign up for the IFAJ portal at
https://www.ifaj.org/article/set-up-your-account-on-the-ifaj-online-portal/ . Upcoming discussion sessions will be held Feb. 17 and March 16, 2022. The topics are yet to be determined.
Free Registration for Alltech One Conference
For anyone interested in the Alltech One conference coming up May 22-24 (see https://one.alltech.com), Alltech is providing free registration for ag communicators who are members of IFAJ. The conference is a valuable source for story ideas.
The event is taking place physically in Lexington, Kentucky, as well as virtually. While travel isn’t covered, you can get free registration to be there in person or to participate virtually. Please contact [email protected].
IFAJ Membership Assistance Fund
Financially, IFAJ is showing a slight improvement from 2020 and 2021 when there was so little revenue coming in. A sponsorship from Alltech strongly helped, and other sponsors are still in discussions with IFAJ to support our programs and awards for 2022.
The biggest contributor to the bottom line is membership fees collected from the guilds. Unfortunately, 12 guilds were in arrears from 2017-2020, equaling 3,943 euros. For 2021, IFAJ still needs to collect 10,877 euros. Many guilds, especially in Africa and Asia, have struggling economies or aren’t able to collect membership fees and COVID shutdowns have made it worse.
At this week’s executive meeting we discussed, and currently are voting on, the creation of an assistance fund. The fund would accept voluntary, individual contributions from guilds, to be distributed by the committee. The aid would be a one-time assistance for guilds that request relief funds. The money would be directly sent to IFAJ to cover the membership arrears and could not be used by individual guilds for other needs.
Steve Werblow and I made a request on behalf of ACN for our Professional Improvement Foundation (PIF) and received a $500 grant to contribute to this assistance fund. This helps ACN/PIF be seen globally as one of the founding contributors to support journalists and guilds in the world and allow them to continue to access IFAJ resources. This grant will also help our non-profit PIF meet IRS requirements that some disbursements benefit organizations, other than the one that formed it (AAEA/ACN).
The next IFAJ Executive Meeting will be held April 27.If you have any questions or comments related to IFAJ, please contact [email protected].
Elaine Shein is the associate managing editor of DTN/ Progressive Farmer.