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TODD KIMM – BACK TO THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF AMES AS PFI’s COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST
After tasting a portion of the challenges and joys of farming, I went on to earn a journalism degree at the University of Iowa and then to edit a string of weekly newspapers serving small agricultural communities. It was from this vantage point that I observed and reported on the trials of the 80s farm crisis and the following struggle of a diminished network of family farmers against a growing commodity agricultural and the emergence of the “factory farm.” On the brighter side, I also watched as the credo and practice of sustainable farming took hold in Iowa, nurtured from the very beginning by groups like PFI. During this same time, I handled public relations for various non-profits, including a labor-management group, an art museum—and even PFI in the mid-90s. I also worked in the Iowa Legislature, started a couple magazines of my own and generally kept up with the changing face of agriculture. As I join PFI, a window of opportunity is opening to change things in a big way. As people like Wes Jackson, Fred Kirschenmann and PFI’s own Robert Karp have so eloquently stated, we all stand at a very important crossroads in American agriculture, a time when there is the potential for a critical mass of people to come together and change the way we farm in this country. But in order to get to that place, we need to reach, challenge and educate more eaters and more farmers. PFI has already helped lay the groundwork for such a sea change and is now in the process of developing a comprehensive communications and community outreach plan to capitalize on that foundation. My specific duties will include the usual work on press releases, brochures and our quarterly newsletter, as well as assisting with the creation and implementation of a communications and community outreach plan. PFI is launching efforts in some exciting new areas and fortifying and concentrating work in time-honored ones. Telling PFI’s story will mean telling your stories, stories of the incredible work and determination it requires to remain true to farming or eating in a certain way, and the kinship, epiphanies and fun that follow. In the coming months, I will be calling on you to share those stories, whether it be in a profile piece about your farming operation for the quarterly newsletter or a quote from you about how you use your CSA for inclusion in a news release. I encourage anyone who has ideas, questions, stories, etc. to contact me. And I look forward to meeting you all in the days ahead. If you have any questions or would like assistance with any communications/publicity-related activities, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or email. I can be reached at 515-232-5661 ext. 108; my email is todd@practicalfarmers.org or communications@practicalfarmers.org. |
It
doesn’t seem all that long ago…my father and I tooling the streets of
downtown Ames in a red Volkswagon Beetle, Petula Clark rattling the tiny
AM-radio speaker with the strains of “Downtown,” and me sinking back in awe
at all the bright lights and tall buildings. My dad was working on his degree in
animal science at Iowa State, and a few years later we would leave big-city Ames
for a little (by today’s standards) farm in eastern Iowa. My dad would spend
the next 30 years of his life teaching biology in the Cedar Rapids School
District and farming 300 acres near Amana—with the help of his own dad, and
three sons. I return now to take on the position of communications specialist at
PFI, a job it seems I’ve been preparing for since I left the bright lights of
Ames all those years before.