3 pages., Online via publisher. May issue., Author's description of his career in agricultural journalism, experiences with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), benefits of AAEA, and perspectives about writing.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 142 Document Number: D06392
Notes:
Wallaces Farmer/Penton contribution to ACDC, November 2015., 8 pages., Describes the Iowa Master Farmer Awards program founded by Wallaces Farmer magazine in 1926 and continuing through 2014 to honor outstanding Iowa farm families. Includes operations of the Iowa Master Farmer Foundation, which was formed in 2002.
See related dissertation: "Reading, reform and rural change: the Midwestern farm press, 1895-1920", This article argues that historians should not take agricultural newspapers as is and assume they expressed the farmer's point of view. Farm newspapers often reflected urban reform ideas, such as those involving rural school consolidation, rural churches and family farms. "Farm newspapers are better seen not as expressing the ideas of farmers, but providing a forum for reformers and farmers to debate proposed changes to country life." Research involved four midwestern farm newspapers between 1895 and 1920: Iowa Homestead; Wallaces' Farmer; Prairie Farmer; and Missouri Ruralist.
