New Horizon's Update

New Horizons Update. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Members of the FFA recently received their latest issue of the organizations New Horizon’s magazine and were surprised by getting something quite a bit different from the usual publication. The National FFA Organizations publication has undergone a major update from what members received when the magazine began publication.

HOLBERG: The FFA magazine started in 1952, it was called the National Future Farmer and at that time it was really created to be obviously a national publication but really the voice of FFA members across the country. Obviously that was way before the days of the internet and social media so it really gave FF members a sense of nationality, of being part of something that was much bigger

That’s Kim Holberg, vice president of agribusiness publishing for Journal Communications who is responsible for the update. She says the name changed in 1988 to New Horizons.

HOLMBERG: And that was part of the overall FF name change to say that the organization reflects a lot more than future farmers; that it’s all about agri-science and agri-business and preparing students for more than 300 careers in agriculture.

This wasn’t the first time the magazine had undergone a major renovation.

HOLMBERG: Our last redesign was about 5 or 6 years ago so it was definitely time to gthink again about a reinvention for our publication. We made quite a few changes in fact. The magazine has been bi-monthly for quite a few years and we’ve changed that to be a quarterly publication. We have also really increased the quality of the magazine. We’ve added more pages to it, we’ve increased the paper quality and thickness. It really contributes to what we in the magazine industry refer to as the “flop factors.”

That is the sound a magazine makes when you throw it down. Holmberg says that while some content will remain the same there are some big changes as well.

HOLMBERG: Probably the biggest change we have made however is in the true content. We’ve kept some of the same types of content that have always been a mainstay in the FFA magazine, probably our biggest change in the content that we’ve incorporated even more agricultural information in there. With the changes that FFA has seen over the years we’re beginning to have many more nontraditional students. Those that do not come from an agriculture background or grew up on a farm

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.