In July, the Aronia Growers of Wisconsin Regional Group sponsored a Mother Earth News Fair booth in West Bend, Wisconsin. In August, your Board member, Corey Hillebo worked with Peggy Fogle, Erlene Fopma and other volunteers to staff a booth at the Iowa State Fair. This is an excellent Aronia outreach and awareness opportunity. Over 100,000 attend this fair. Next year we need more early volunteer signups for the 10 fair days to enable continued MAA sponsorship. Many of us should be eager to share 4 hours of our time for this endeavor.
In early August, MAA sent a survey to our members to acquire contact information from those interested in being contacted by the USDA to contribute to their 2017 Agriculture survey in an attempt to establish Aronia as a distinct crop. Your participation in the survey helped us justify future funding for aronia research and marketing. Thank you!
October will be the start of our Membership renewal drive. Please note, your 2017 membership will include a free listing on our Aronia Connection page. However, you will need to provide us with this information on the membership application form which will allow us to create a posting for you. This listing is an excellent way to expand your business visibility and make it easier for us to direct inquiries to your product or services. MAA has been receiving increasing requests for berries, products and services. NOW would be a great time to get noticed!
Looking toward a new membership year reminds me of our annual conference. Plans are coming together for the 2017 Conference. Stay tuned for updates from Steve Nabity and Addie Kinghorn who are planning this event. We heard you and we are hoping to include many marketing topics at this year’s conference. If you can help or would like to speak and/or make a presentation, please contact Addie (402-578-4678) or Steve (402-740-7115).
Elections for Board of Directors
Some of the MAA Board members will be cycling off soon. Most importantly, we are looking for a dedicated, experienced accountant or bookkeeper to fill the role of Treasurer. Our current Treasurer is unable to continue fulfilling her responsibilities through 2017. It takes all the resources we can muster to accomplish goals and meet your needs. Please consider stepping forward to fill these vital leadership roles. You may contact any Board member to express your interest. If you have not already been contacted by Megan or a Board member, we may be connecting with you soon to ask some questions about your membership experiences and engaging with MAA in a more substantial way.
See you at conference!
Roberta Barham
MAA President
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