Minutes of the 69th annual meeting of the North American Agricultural Journalists

Minutes of the 69th annual meeting of the North American Agricultural Journalists held on April 25 at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, Va. 

The meeting was called to order by President Gene Lucht with 25 members present in person and five members attending virtually via Zoom.

Kim de Bourbon provided an update on the writing contest. We had a total of 260 entries for the 2022 contest, slightly lower than the 281 last year. Breakdown of each category includes: 

News: 51
Feature: 52
Technical: 30
Spot News: 15
Ongoing: 26
Column: 25
Editorial: 12
Profile: 18
Photo (new this year): 13
Blogs: 8
Ongoing Coverage or Series: 27
Special Projects: 10

Betsy Freese and Dan Looker offered their thoughts on the contest as they both served as judges for this year. They suggested the anonymity of writers could improve if you could black out names. Mark Moore discussed sharing all articles and providing additional writing critique. 

Interim Executive Secretary-Treasurer Jacqui Fatka provided an update on the Newsmaker Events held during the previous year. There’s interest to do more included on the topics of WOTUS, farm bill, post-election and new year outlook.

Sara Wyant suggested we could provide more professional development and data analytics and training, especially for our younger members. Noah Wicks volunteered he could do a workshop on how to access public records. 

Chuck Abbott offered an update on the NAAJ-Sonja Hillgren Memorial Scholarship given to attendees at the University of Missouri. Two scholarships of $1,000/each were given. He says the fund has a large balance with a little over $96,000. Michael Dorning asked why we couldn’t increase the scholarship amounts to $2,500. Chuck said he would look at the contract with University of Missouri. Ellyn offered her assistance. Another discussion point was an opportunity for mentoring students. 

Bylaw changes were discussed to establish an emeritus status for members who are retired. Joel Reichenberger moved to make the change, and Alice Mannette seconded the motion. The change was unanimously approved. 

NEW: Section 2: Emeritus membership. Persons who are active members at retirement are eligible to continue their membership as emeritus members.

Also moved to make a change on how Canada is identified in our bylaws. Joel Reichenberger moved to make the change and Mikkel Pates seconded the motion. The change was unanimously approved. 

Canada – all provinces and territories in Canada

Fatka gave an overview of the committees. We have combined some committees and NAAJ is always looking for volunteers. Now we have Membership Outreach/Networking, Newsletter/Website, Annual Meeting and Writing Contest. 

Great discussion on wanting to establish a new Next Generation Committee and a desire to have more student involvement and expand membership. Ellyn Ferguson said she will help with recruiting. Mark Moore explained how it is hard to find mentors who can talk about agricultural journalism. Gabe Pietrorazio is willing to serve on helping on the Next Generation Committee. 

Jacqui also provided an overview of the financials for the past year. The beginning balance on March 26, 2021 was $22,535.16.  Total expenses for the fiscal year was $18,656.42. Beginning balance plus income was $36,684.01. The ending balance is estimated at $21,027.59. Estimated cost for the 2022 meeting was $4,736 and estimated cost for reception was $14,583.41, with total meeting expenses at $19,319.77 for the 2022 event. Estimated meeting income was $19,466.54.

Helena Boettmiller Evich offered discussion on whether to increase executive secretary-treasurer pay from $3,500 per year to $5,000/year and also drop the “interim” part of the title. Mikkel Pates moved to approve the pay increase, Tim Hearden seconded. Motion approved unanimously. Members also discussed increasing the payment to Kim de Bourbon for her role as writing committee chairman from $750 to $1,000/year. Alice Mannette moved to increase the payment, and Gil Gullickson seconded the motion. Motion approved unanimously. 

Jacqui shared that in 2022, NAAJ had 106 members. She hopes to start the membership renewals in November or December, rather than at the same time that the writing contest is underway.

The new incoming slate of officers include

President - Allan Dawson, Manitoba Co-Operator
Overall VP - Des Keller, DK Communications 
Midwest -  Alice Mannette, Hutchinson News
Northeast - Helena Bottemiller Evich, Politico
Southeast - Philip Brasher, Agri-Pulse
Canada - Robin Booker, The Western Producer
West - Joel Reichenberger, DTN/Progressive Farmer

Gil Gullickson moved to approve the slate of officers. Chris Torres seconded the motion. Motion passes. 

Motion to adjourn made by Joel Reichenberger and second made by Alice Mannette.