Alan Bjerga is an American journalist, author of the book "Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest" and the 2010 president of the National Press Club. He covers agricultural policy for Bloomberg News and in 2010-2011 was also the president of the North American Agricultural Journalists. In 2009 he was recognized for his work covering U.S. food aid and the famine in Ethiopia. He received awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the New York Press Club, the Kansas Press Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists, and the Overseas Press Club for this work. Before working for Bloomberg News, Bjerga won the NAAJ's top writing award in 2005 while working for the Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau.

Bjerga, who grew up on a farm near the town of Motley, Minnesota

Motley, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 585 people, 258 households, and 167 families residing in the city. The population density was 442.7 people per square mile . There were 270 housing units at an average density of 204.3 per square mile...

, went to Concordia College (Minnesota) where he earned a bachelor's degree in History and English Literature and edited the student newspaper, The Concordian (Moorhead)

The Concordian (Moorhead)

The Concordian is the name of Concordia College's student-run news paper. One of many student-run organizations, the paper generally reports on a variety of campus-related issues such as school sports, student profiles and on-campus entertainment...

. He earned a masters degree in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

, where he was the managing editor of The Minnesota Daily. Bjerga began his career with the St. Paul Pioneer Press

St. Paul Pioneer Press

The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...

 (Minn.) and also reported for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader

Argus Leader

See also List of newspapers in South DakotaThe Argus Leader is the daily newspaper of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is South Dakota's largest newspaper by circulation.-Description:...

 and The Wichita Eagle

The Wichita Eagle

The Wichita Eagle is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas. It is owned by The McClatchy Company, which publishes 31 other newspapers, including The Kansas City Star.It is the largest newspaper in Wichita, Kansas and the surrounding area....

 (Kan.).

Alan Bjerga was a contestant on the game show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...

" where he won $50,000. He was a second-place finisher on "Jeopardy!

Jeopardy!

Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

" At his National Press Club inaugural on Jan. 30, 2010, he played guitar and sang lead vocals with "Honky Tonk Confidential

Honky Tonk Confidential

Honky Tonk Confidential is a retro/alt country band from the Washington, D.C. area. The band's latest CD is the result of a collaboration with CBS News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation anchor, Bob Schieffer...

", a retro/alt country band with songs written by CBS Face the Nation

Face the Nation

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...

 anchor, Bob Schieffer

Bob Schieffer

Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...

.