It’s been almost a year since this blog started – coincidentally around the time I was lucky enough to be able to attend the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) congress in Japan.

This year’s event will be hosted jointly by Austria and Slovenia, September 10-14. To get in on the action, neighboring Slovakia is hosting a pre-congress tour September 7-9.

As co-chair, together with Owen Roberts, of the 2011 Congress that will be held here in Canada, I am fortunate to be attending this year’s event. My colleague and fellow farm writer Kelly Daynard, who is the lucky recipient of this year’s Canadian Farm Writers Federation-Monsanto travel bursary, and I will be blogging updates throughout the congress. Stay tuned for posts and photos, starting approximately September 7 2008.

Lilian Schaer is attending the 2008 IFAJ Congress through the IFAJ 2011 Development Initiative, supported by Pioneer Hi-bred and Syngenta.