When attending an agenda-packed international event like the recent IFAJ Congress, it’s all you can do to focus on the moment. Day after day we were kept scurrying from one event to another and from one farm visit to the next. We often left our hotels by 7 a.m. and didn’t return until late in [...]

Canadian sheep farmers who deal with threats from predators on a daily basis should take a little solace in the comfort that they´re not alone. Slovenian sheep and goat producers face the same challenges and, like in so many other sectors of European Union agriculture, rely heavily on subsidies to help them deal with these challenges.

Today, in Austria, we stepped off of our bus and into the middle of a postcard. High up in the mountains, the scenery fulfilled every stereotype I’ve ever had about this country. Cow bells could be heard in the distance. A babbling brook twisted alongside the roadway. Every home was a flower-laden chalet and, to [...]

I sat through my first delegates’ assembly yesterday at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ (IFAJ) in Graz, Austria.
The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) is a non-political, professional association for agricultural journalists in 29 countries.

When I was planning my visit to Europe, I mistakenly anticipated the fact that I’d understand very little of the language. I’ve been taking French lessons for years, so hoped that I’d comprehend at least a little of the language in Paris. I’m also travelling with my friend Lilian who is fluent in German [...]

Twenty years ago, a visit like ours to Slovakia would not have been possible. Under communist rule, our tour guide, Miroslav, today told delegates to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ (IFAJ) pretour that the requirements would have been so stringent that it would have been difficult – if not impossible – for delegates [...]

The official congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists kicked off today when the farm journalists from 16 countries converged on the Hotel Tatra in Bratislava, Slovakia for three days of tours organized by the Slovakian farm writers’ association. The program is the launch to the annual International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ congress, held [...]