By Betty Haynes, Membership Committee Co-Chair
If you’ve ever wondered if you should attend IFAJ World Congress. The answer is yes. You absolutely should.
This year I had the privilege of representing the U.S. as an IFAJ Young Leader where 10 young ag journalists from around the world were selected for weeks of training, education and networking. I got to participate in Young Leader Bootcamp, IFAJ World Congress, pre and post ag tours, and the Alltech One conference – all in Alberta, Canada.
It’s a special thing to forge lifelong friendships that surpass cultures, language, and geography. There are some incredibly bright journalists from across the world communicating on behalf of agriculture in really unique ways. I learned that many of us share not only the same passions, but some of the same frustrations and challenges on communicating agriculture in our countries. How do we compete with the attention span of readers in the digital age? And how can we achieve this without running ourselves ragged between writing, taking photos, recording videos, and creating social media content?
I’m already missing my cohort as we’ve all returned to home countries. But what an incredible value it is to have journalist friends across the world that I can consult on future stories. The connections made are undoubtedly priceless.
I also got to hear from farmers and ranchers across Canada as we toured farms gathering future story content. We dove into heavy issues like government regulation, climate change, and water availability, while learning how Canadian producers are adapting to meet the demands on consumers. These topics sparked conversations within my Young Leader cohort on how ag differs in their home countries.
As both an ag journalist and farmer, it was wild for me to learn how the rest of the world raises food. For instance, I developed a friendship with Geraldine Zutter, the Swiss Young Leader, from her family’s farm in Münsingen, Switzerland. In some ways we are so different. She raises sugar beets, wheat, barley, silage, cattle and sheep on 62 acres near the Swiss Alps. Our family farms differed tremendously in size, crops, equipment, and livestock. And yet, we had so much in common like our senses of humor, taste in music, ties to the family farm and love of all things livestock.
Next year’s IFAJ Congress happens to be in Switzerland. I hope to be there to continue to learn from and connect with exceptional ag journalists from across the world.
I’m so thankful for the opportunity and financial support from ACN. My advice to anyone interested? Apply to be an IFAJ Young Leader in for the 2024 IFAJ World Congress in Interlaken, Switzerland. You won’t regret it!