Prior to the start of this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress a panel discussion was held for members of the Master Class and Young Leaders as well as any other member attendees. Taking place at ZEF, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn, the panel subject was “Sustainable Solutions for Global Agriculture.” The Moderator is Joachim von Braun and on the panel Ignace Coussement, Managing Director of AgriCord; Katia Simeonova, Manager MDA Programme, UNFCCC Secretariat; Brigitte Petersen, University of Bonn; Oliver Kirui, Senior Researcher, ZEF Bonn and Justic Tambo, Senior Researcher, ZEF Bonn.
Key words that were used frequently include sustainability, climate change, holistic, green NGOs, agriculture contribution, industrial farms, small farmers, carbon and more. I have to say that a majority of what I heard sounded very similar to what I’ve heard at conferences throughout my career. It was obvious that there will always be the challenge of getting different cultures to agree on the definitions of subjects like sustainability. It was even said that rich people have a different definition than poor people. So you know how that goes. I asked for a definition of industrial farmer but didn’t really get a specific answer. Instead I was told what an industrial farm is not. For example, if a farm is managed by a person who makes his/her own decisions then it’s not an industrial farm. So an industrial farm is one where all decisions are made by big corporate agribusiness companies? Do you know of any of them?
You can listen to the panel starring right after introductions here: IFAJ Sustainable Solutions for Global Agriculture Panel
2016 IFAJ Congress Photo Album
