IOIA Town Hall Meetings
The 3rd Thursday of the month
Please plan to join us to - share time together to discuss… things we’re thinking related to inspecting in the current certification environment, and our knowledge of technology and methods for best practices for inspecting.
In honor of summer and busy inspection season, June, July and August will be podcasts, so you can listen in any time. We will be sending out reminders before each scheduled date.
June 16 – Podcast with Jackie Sleeper - Follow-up Report on the Human Capital Working Group results.
July 21 – Podcast
August 18 – Podcast
Next regular Town Hall Meeting featuring 'Ask Me Anything' - September 15, TBA.
Reminders with the meeting link are emailed to all IOIA inspector members a few days prior.
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Pacific,
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Mountain;
2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Central; and
3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
October 20 – RFA WrapUp
November – month off
December 15 – IOIA Holiday Party
March 17 recap
"Ask Me Anything" with Dr. Marcus Bernard of Kentucky State University.
"Ask Me Anything about my work in rural sociology, and how inclusion and building equity for everyone is essential to move our industry forward”, was a very inspirational discussion on human relations. Dr. Bernard arrived a bit late due to other commitments plus the time change; however, we were fortunate to have our first Intern, Onyekachukwu Akaeze (aka "AO") on the call. AO, who hails from Nigeria, shared his journey with us, which was very interesting - he will make a great inspector, which is his goal. While we were waiting for Dr. Bernard, AO was invited to ask questions from the group, and here HE was the fortunate one, since there were a number of longtime members on the call. We figured there were around 200 YEARS of collective experience for him to draw from on just this call, which is an amazing thought in itself.
April 21 recap
Tax Tips and Tricks for Contract Independent Inspectors, with panelists Allan Benjamin, Al Johnson, Rachel Cherry Myers, and Melissa Billing, CPA.
Even though the deadline to file taxes in the US was April 18, this panel still offered timely ideas, tools, and resources for independent contractors to use to administer all the details of inspection work - inspection time, report writing, driving, billing, all those expense details that are so important to overall compensation for the work done. It was a small but very lively group that enjoyed our small but lively panel.
May 19 recap
"Ask Me Anything" on the subject of Biodiversity, with Jo Ann Baumgartner, Executive Director of Wild Farm Alliance; and Tony Fleming, highly regarded geologist and hydrologist, former inspector and technical editor for IOIA's Inspectors' Report newsletter.
This hour-long event was over way too quickly. LOTS of great information from two powerhouse professionals, including species-specific examples and tips on how to approach farmers about the topic of biodiversity on their land. Two good take-aways: on Flora & Fauna of soil, 1 tsp = 1 billion organisms. These organisms are crop-specific, so the more diverse planting of crops = more diverse organisms in the soil - A good thing! And this factoid: the main source of nitrogen fertilizer in the world is natural gas - a resource that is finite and of which there are no remaining large reserves. A shortage is currently underway mainly due to the war in Ukraine, as Russia is a prime natural gas source. So expect that as fertilizer prices rise, so will crop prices.
A reminder to check out the Wild Farm Alliance website for LOTS of great resources about biodiversity on farms.
