By Elaine Shein, AAEA International Committee Chairwoman
Next week is a great opportunity to gain some professional development, pick up some story ideas and do some international networking — all for free from your computer or smartphone.
You can participate live through Zoom in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists eCongress Aug. 23-25, or you can watch recorded events that will be available later.
Everyone who is a member of our Ag Communicators Network has benefits on the national level, but also on an international level, thanks to our organization being part of IFAJ.
Since COVID-19 prevented IFAJ’s annual Congress from taking place in person, for the second year in the row it will be done virtual. Below is a list of dates, times and events:
AUGUST 23:
The eCongress kicks off Aug. 23 09:00 GMT — that’s 4 a.m. CDT — with a panel on Global Trade featuring Carlo Dad of the Canada West Foundation and moderator Yewande Kazeem of Wandieville Media.
Next there will also be a virtual tour of Belgian agriculture, focusing on the Belgium’s potato industry. Belgian guild representative Melanie Epp explained that there are two parts to looking at how Belgium became such as potato powerhouse in the world and how it wants to stay away. There will be a video with three people on farms, then move to a live panel with four speakers talking about the challenges and opportunities. This virtual tour is considered a pilot project for IFAJ as it tries different ways to engage its members internationally.
That morning will also see two panels that could lead to possible story ideas. One is on climate change in agriculture and features Safa’ al Jayoussi of the Climate Action Network in the Middle East; the other is a rural youth panel that features Jodie Gunders of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Gunders will share some of her research she did on public broadcasting and agriculture. One of the goals of her research was to understand how the BBC handled rural reporting. “Was it possible to produce rural content that would connect with urban audiences, while still meeting the needs of rural audiences?” She also wanted to learn what opportunities this could present to journalists in other places that are attempting to deliver rural perspectives to both urban and rural audiences.
The last panel discussion of the morning will focus on press freedom. The panel includes Finnish investigative journalist Jessikka Aro and exiled Somali journalist Daud Abdi Daud, founder of Radio Hope. The panel will be moderated by IFAJ Freedom of the Press Committee Chair Micke Godtfredsen. Learn what other journalists are going through to do their jobs, and why it is so important to protect the freedom of the press.
AUGUST 24:
On Aug. 24, the IFAJ Delegate Assembly will take place, starting again at 4 a.m. CDT. Any IFAJ member is welcome to attend the business meeting, and only registered delegates from member countries are allowed to vote. Our organization ACN, because of our large membership, is allowed four voting delegates this year. During the meeting there are Presidium reports, committee reports, and an update on what is happening with the formation of the IFAJ Foundation, which is similar to our non-profit Professional Improvement Foundation.
AUGUST 25:
Starting at 14:00 GMT (9 a.m. CDT) on Aug. 25 is a day of celebration, according to the event organizers. It includes a look ahead to the IFAJ Congress in Denmark in 2022. Originally scheduled in 2020, the Denmark Congress plans were canceled several times because of the pandemic, but IFAJ hopes to go ahead with an in-person Congress scheduled to begin June 27, 2022. Tentatively, post-Congress tours are being planned next year, always a great way to learn more about agriculture in the host country.
After Denmark’s presentation on Aug. 25 comes the prestigious IFAJ Star Prize Award ceremony. Who will be the best in the world? In some categories, IFAJ members can enter their work directly (ex. photos), but in other categories there can only be one official entry per guild. (For example, ACN entered one entry into the writing contest, our choice selected from the winning entries at our own national writing contest).
This year, at the IFAJ level, there were 18 print, 7 digital, 8 audio, 11 video and 72 photo entries. Please join the ceremony to help cheer on the winners, but also to be inspired by the incredible work being done by our journalist peers in other nations.
After the award ceremony there will be a social hour — still through Zoom — with breakout rooms. See old friends, meet new ones, and here’s a valuable chance to network and have interesting discussions with other people on different continents.
For complete information and the link to register for the eCongress, please go to https://www.ifaj.org/article/ifaj-econgress-offers-panel-talks-social-hour-awards-and-more-starting-23-august-2/
Also, you can see copies of the August issue of the quarterly IFAJ newsletter that just came out this week, as well as past newsletters, at https://www.ifaj.org/english-newsletter/.
Elaine Shein is the associate managing editor of DTN/ Progressive Farmer.