By Katie Knapp, International Committee Chair and ACN Board Member
IFAJ Congress was held in Interlaken, Switzerland, Aug. 14-18, 2024, and more than just cow bells were ringing.
The Swiss guild successfully showed agricultural journalists from around the world how the small country excels at using their unique landscape, which is both home to global giants such as Syngenta and Nestle and many small farms that are heavily subsidized to remain viable. The program included many presentations and tours illustrating the blend of tradition and innovation that comes from the region.
Twenty three Americans attended, including eight University of Illinois ag communications students. Courtney Girgis represented ACN at Bootcamp ahead of the main Congress as an Alltech-IFAJ Young Leader. PIF awarded five travel stipends to attendees who will write separate articles about their experiences in the coming Byline issues.
Equally as important as the boots-on-the-ground experience was conducting IFAJ business:
- Presidium officers were confirmed for the 2024-20206 term. Steve Werblow will lead the organization as president. The other officers are Adalberto Rossi of Argentina, Vice President; Magda du Toit of South Africa, Treasurer; and Adrian Bell of the United Kingdom, Secretary-General.
- Trustees were elected for the new Global Foundation for Agricultural Journalism (GFAJ), two of which have ties to ACN. Seven elected trustees are from member guilds and three are external representatives. Magda du Toit, the IFAJ Treasurer, will also serve on the board.
- Jane Craigie (UK), agricultural communicator
- Lena Johansson (Sweden), freelance agricultural journalist and former IFAJ President
- Jefferson Massah (Liberia), agricultural radio journalist
- Leigh Radford, OAM (Australia), agricultural broadcaster with the ABC
- Owen Roberts (Canada/U.S.), agricultural journalist and director of the agricultural communications program, and former IFAJ president
- Ismail Ugural (Turkey), agrifood writer and journalist
- Jacqueline Wijbenga (Netherlands), agricultural communications adviser with the University of Wageningen
- Franz Fischler (Austria), agricultural business consultant and former EU Commissioner for Agriculture
- Luke McKelvie (U.S.), Global Farmer Program Manager at McDonald’s
- Ben Freeth, MBE (Zimbabwe), farmer, human rights activist, and Executive Director of the Mike Campbell Foundation
- IFAJ Star Prizes were awarded in nine categories (five topics and four media types). Among the winners were:
- Todd Hultman of DTN/Progressive Farmer won the Trade, Economics, Global Issues category with his article “Are Russian Wheat Farmers Outcompeting the World or Is Something Else Going On?”
- Elaine Shein of DTN/Progressive Farmer was runner-up in the Sustainability category for her article “The Future of Food”
- Katie Knapp with The Furrow magazine was runner-up in the Innovation category for her photo “Deep Winter Seedlings” in her article “Fight the Winter Blues with Green”.
Save the date for next year’s Congress in Nairobi, Kenya: October 14 – 18, 2025!
