My IFAJ friends are meeting in Berlin at the International Green Week. Thanks to IFAJ President Mike Wilson, Farm Futures, for sending along some information and photos. You can read about his experiences on his blog.
The German ag minister Ilse Aigner was a bit preoccupied this week as she tried to make the rounds and meet journalists, such as the IFAJ presidium (pictured), at 2011 GreenWeek in Berlin. Minister Aigner has been scrambling since Jan. 3 when a German Health Alert was issued over the discovery of
deadly dioxin that was sold into the animal feed processing chain (details in blog). But she was ever so gracious and spent a few minutes with us. Yesterday she met with several ag ministers from other countries in a roundtable panel discussion, and will give results of that meeting at a press conference today. (picture below)
The IFAJ had a full agenda. We had several important discussions and approved several new initiatives, including the new Yara Sustainability professional development contest that is open to any member in writing, internet or broadcast format, with a targeted topic that focuses on sustainable farming and the challenge of feeding the world’s 9 billion consumers by 2050. We also made progress on the new Master Class program, where 12 participants from developing countries will be offered an opportunity to come to Canada and take part in a journalism workshop and attend the Canadian IFAJ Congress.
These are just a few of the highlights, more will be forthcoming at the IFAJ website next week.
You can find a lot of photos from Green Week on their website. It’s a fascinating show and if you ever want to “eat your way around the world” in one place then you need to go.