As part of its new comprehensive communications program, Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. (DPI), has created a position of Communications Manager to coordinate and manage the organization’s outreach efforts. Veteran newspaper reporter and editor James Fisher of Milton, Del., has been hired to lead the effort. DPI is the 1,800-member, non-profit trade association for the Delmarva Peninsula’s chicken industry.
Fisher has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 13 years, covering a wide variety of topics including agriculture and the poultry industry. Examples of his science reporting were recognized with an award in 2015 by the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association. As a journalist, he has seen how communication among agriculture, the public, government, and other industries has evolved.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., working in all kinds of ways—news, member communications, social media, video, and more—to tell the stories of the people who make up the region’s most significant agricultural sector,” Fisher said. “In my career, I’ve come to understand that poultry is far more intertwined in the region’s economy and culture than many people think at first glance. I’m eager to help DPI spread that understanding even further."
Fisher received a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in 2002 and a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism in 2003.
For more than a year, DPI has been developing a comprehensive program to share more positive information about the chicken industry, its people, and its companies with a larger audience. DPI Executive Director Bill Satterfield noted that “there are many positive stories showcasing how our farm families and other members continuously are improving how chickens are raised, how the birds’ welfare and care are being enhanced, how industry by-products are being handled in more environmentally sensitive ways, and how they share the values of others on Delmarva and are working to be better neighbors. With our new Communications Manager, we’ll step up those outreach efforts.”
