It’s still three years away – but excitement is building across the country for our chance to welcome the world’s agricultural journalists. Planning has started in earnest for the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists’ (IFAJ) congress that will be hosted by Canada in the Guelph and Niagara regions of Ontario in September 2011.
The big picture
People: Many of you have come forward in recent months to volunteer your help to organize this big event, which is wonderful. If you haven’t already heard from the chair of your committee, they will be getting in touch with you this fall to let you know what’s needed.
Sponsors: Hosting a major international conference takes financial resources to make it happen, especially in the early days as we lay the foundation for the event and begin to generate interest amongst IFAJ members worldwide. It’s a great opportunity to showcase Canadian innovation, tradition and leadership to our colleagues both here at home and across the globe. We appreciate Pioneer and Syngenta’s support of IFAJ 2011 to date – and there are plenty of opportunities for others to become involved as well.
Program: The quality of the conference program is integral to making this event a success. Our tours and professional development committees are busy building an interesting and exciting program for delegates. It’ll be a work in progress as topics and times change over the next few years, but it’s our goal to showcase culture as well as agriculture.
Next steps
Finishing touches are being put on sponsorship opportunities for the event. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or have ideas about who should be, please contact Sponsorship Chair Jane Robinson .
We will be presenting a draft congress agenda to the IFAJ Executive at their semi-annual meeting in Berlin in January. We’ll also make it available on our conference website, www.ifaj2011.com, so you can see what we’re planning and what you can look forward to for 2011.
We’ll be providing regular updates on our planning progress in the Farm Journalist in the weeks, months and years to come – so stay tuned and help us look ahead to Canada’s congress.
Questions?
Lilian Schaer, Congress Co-Chair, 519-837-1326
Owen Roberts, Congress Co-Chair, 519-824-4120
