Published Mar 9, 2017

And the winners are…
By Laura Frescoln

If I am being honest, I groan and roll my eyes a bit when a survey comes my way. At least I used to.

Now that I have been behind the scenes and on the team responsible for our 2017 PFI Member Survey, I have a different perspective. I understand the importance of gathering this information. We really use it. I have been at Practical Farmers for close to a year now. I have lost track of the amount of times we have discussed an event or a programming change and the first question from the PFI team is, “Is this what our members want?” Every time. Without fail.

Since our office is a bit short on crystal balls, we rely on our interactions with our membership to understand what they want, and what they need. We gather that information in many ways; informally through phone calls or chats between annual conference sessions, and formally through discussion lists, program advisory teams, and event evaluations. We also gather it every 3-4 years through our Member Survey. The last one was in 2013 and was a critical step in the development of our strategic plan. Now, as we prepare to update our strategic plan for 2018 and beyond, we once again look to our members for their leadership in determining our organizational path for the future and to evaluate how we have done in the past.

We want to thank all of you who have taken the time to complete the survey. For those of you who completed the survey by March 1, 2017…your name was entered into a random drawing to receive free PFI merchandise. We chose 25 winners from the bunch, and here they are!

  • Nancy Forrest
  • Harriett Dickey-Chasins
  • Tim Kelley
  • Michael Ahlers
  • Loyd Johnson
  • Wendell Zimmerman
  • Varley family
  • Kenneth Adolphs
  • Marilyn Andersen
  • David Sliwa
  • Hannah Breckbill
  • John Pesek
  • Linda Wormley
  • Katie Thompson
  • Jason Recker
  • Amy Holmgren
  • Don Lewis
  • Mike Walters
  • Mark Philips
  • Dick Schwab
  • Leora Laughery
  • Robert Harvey
  • Robert Pridie
  • Corwin Slagter
  • Jill Beebout
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During a PFI staff and board of directors retreat on March 2nd and 3rd, we all took turns selecting a winner from a PFI hat. (Pictured above): Donna Prizgintas draws from a hat held by Laura Frescoln as Gail Hickenbottom checks out the name he selected.

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU to the winners!!

Don’t worry if you have not sat down to complete the survey….there is still time! Keep looking in your in-box for reminders and a link to the survey.