23/11/2015: Young agri journalists encouraged to be global leaders

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Ewald Wurzinger (Austria). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Mr Wurzinger; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

Ten young leaders in agricultural journalism joined together to discuss agribusiness issues from around the world and further develop their skills in leadership and agricultural journalism at this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) boot camp, sponsored by Alltech.
      

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Christian Erin-Madsen (Denmark). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Mr Erin-Madsen; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

Representing 10 countries and three continents, recipients of the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award further developed their skills through presentations from agribusiness and academia speakers, interactive group sessions and visits to local dairy farms.
      
Matthew Smith, Alltech vice president of Asia-Pacific, presented 'Agribusiness leadership today and tomorrow,' encouraging the delegates to be different and break the mould.
       

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Andrea Berman (Finland). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Ms Berman; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

“Leaders should not think outside the box; they should get rid of the box altogether,” said Smith.
       
Smith also stressed that agricultural journalists must travel for a truly international perspective that they can then share with their readers, listeners and viewers, whose livelihood is highly influenced by global activities.

“Our industry is global—there are no borders,” he advised, challenging the journalists to think outside of their individual countries and look for the bigger stories.     

     

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Doerte Quinckhardt (Germany). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Ms Quinckhardt; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

The young leaders also visited a 350-cow dairy operation in Morrinsville, where owners David and Marlene Harris shared their enthusiasm for dairy farming and discussed their experience growing production on their farm. Ale Vergara, Alltech technical manager in Waikato, highlighted the importance of hoof health for cow comfort and well-being and gave a demonstration on hoof trimming.
       

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Ben Pike (Great Britain). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Mr Pike; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

Winners of this year’s IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders Award from Europe are:

1. Ewald Wurzinger (Austria) is a radio journalist at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation reporting on food and lifestyle at Radio Vienna. He is also a journalist at the weekly agricultural magazine Neues Land.
2. Christian Erin-Madsen (Denmark) is a journalist and editor at foodculture.dk and voresmad.dk at the Danish Agricultural and Food Council focusing on food reporting.
3. Andrea Berman (Finland) is a journalist for Landsbygdens Folk, a newspaper that covers all relevant issues for the Swedish-speaking farmers in Finland.
4. Doerte Quinckhardt (Germany) is an editor with a passion for dairy, working for the Landwirtschaftliches Wochenblatt Westfalen-Lippe, a weekly magazine for farmers in northwestern Germany.
5. Ben Pike (Great Britain) is a freelance journalist writing for some of the UK's leading farming newspapers, magazines and websites on a broad range of topics from rural issues to farming politics.
6. Mary Phelan (Ireland) is a journalist with Irish Country Living - a lifestyle magazine with the Irish Farmers Journal newspaper. Phelan is also a panelist on Midday, an hour-long daily television show that runs on Irish national channel TV3.
7. Camilla Olsson (Sweden) is a web editor with Sweden’s weekly agricultural newspaper Land Lantbruk while also managing the paper’s news podcast.  
8. Other 2015 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders are Brett Worthington, The Country Hour (Australia) Debra Murphy, RealAgricultire (Canada) and Amy Roady, Illinois Soybean Association (USA).

Candidates were nominated by their respective agricultural journalism guilds. The selection process consisted of a written submission, judges’ impression of the candidates’ leadership potential, their proven leadership abilities and a narrative explaining their interest in the young leaders’ programme. More than 100 young journalists have strengthened their skills and expanded their global network through this program, now in its eleventh year.
            

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Mary Phelan (Ireland). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Ms Phelan; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech.

"As part of its global strategy, IFAJ is taking new measures to unite colleagues from around the world," said Owen Roberts of Canada, IFAJ vice-president.

"With Alltech’s help we are mobilising the agricultural journalism profession, an essential link in the knowledge translation and transfer chain for farmers everywhere.”

The young leaders’ programme is held jointly with the IFAJ-DuPont Pioneer Master Class prior to the IFAJ congress.
   

Alltech and the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists present the Young Leader in Agricultural Journalism Award to Camilla Olsson (Sweden). From left to right are Owen Roberts, vice president of IFAJ; Ms Olsson; and Emily Naylor, Asia-Pacific communications manager for Alltech. 

Visit the Alltech site HERE. 

 

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