The pre-congress tour (14-16 April)
The pre-congress tour will be held in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. Jef Verhaeren explains: “We’ll visit wineries, a dairy farm and see Limousin cattle and Luxlait, the only dairy company of the Grand Duchy. We’ll also have dinner hosted by the minister of agriculture of the Grand Duchy. In the Belgian province of Luxembourg we’ll visit Bastogne, a nice local brewery and we’ll have dinner in the Belgian Ardennes with the agricultural executive of the province of Luxembourg.”
Journalists from developing countries, which are not yet members of the IFAJ will have their own special precongress called ‘Master class on the role of agricultural journalism in the north and south’. It takes place in Ostend and participants from the main congress who arrive early can also attend this.
The main congress (17-21 April)
Amongst the VIPs (‘very important people’) taking part in the Congress are Prof Dr Marc Van Montagu, one of the founding fathers of the plant biotechnology. He discovered how to transfer DNA-particles from one organism to another using a bacterium, which formed the basis of creating transgenic plants. He will be presenting a biotechnology seminar on Sunday morning.
On Monday 19th, delegates can choose from five different excursions - each visit will tour a different aspect of Belgian agriculture. On Tuesday morning, participants can visit farms around Ostend, visit Bruges, Ostend, or the New Holland factory of combine harvesters...or simply stay longer in bed!
At the main congress, participants will also meet the minister-president from Flanders, the Dutch speaking region of Belgium, who is also minister of agriculture. The Wallonian minister of agriculture will be present at the excursion in Wallonia.
Dacian Ciolos to address post-congress symposium
At the post-congress, delegates will meet the new European commissioner of Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, and at a dinner in the Atomium, the European president Herman Van Rompuy.
Dacian Ciolos, newly appointed EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, will be the principal speaker at an invitation-only symposium on the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy. The event, in the Charlemagne Building in Brussels, will run from 9am to lunchtime on Thursday, April 22. Billed by the organisers, the European Commission, as a dialogue with international journalists, the symposium will include presentations on the Common Agricultural Policy in a world context, and on perspectives for rural development after 2013 by Jerzy Plewa and Josefine Loriz-Hoffmann of the Commission. It will give IFAJ members a valuable insight into the reform after 2013 of the €50 billion per year policy for agriculture and rural development in the EU, which is the world’s No 1 agriculture trading bloc.
This will be followed by a press seminar on Thursday afternoon with the theme: ‘Agricultural journalists between passion and pressure’. Communication leaders and experts including Stefan Gyssels (Jansen Farmaceutica & Animal Health), science journalist Pieter Van Dooren, Hans Siemens (chairman of the IFAJ Commission ‘Freedom of the Press’) and Karen Simon (Iowa/ Agricultural Communications Documentation Center) will speak.
Alltech Young Journalists Award winners announced
This year’s IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism awards will be presented at the 2010 IFAJ Congress in Belgium. The ten winners are Lilian Schaer, Canada; Andrea Bahrenberg, Germany; Liza Burger, South Africa; Jesus Colmenarejo, Spain; Margaret Donnelly, Ireland; Tatjana Kren Hlebic, Slovenia; Aleksandar Radovic, Serbia; Soledad Ricca, Argentina; Terhi Torikka, Finland; and Sarah Trickett, UK.
Of these, Canadian writer Lilian Schaer (pictured above) is already having a busy and successful 2010. She has been appointed editor of the American Agricultural Editors Association’s newsletter, The ByLine, as well as writing her own blog.
Alltech-sponsored Australian also heads to Belgium
Also making his way to the Congress will be Australian journalist Tom Dawkins who has won the Alltech Young Leaders in Rural Journalism Award organised by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists.
