| 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 the night. Given this pace, there was only time to superficially process our newly-gained experiences on a very fragmented basis as we frantically wrote notes and snapped photos that would help to jog our memories at a later date. Continue reading Processing the experience 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. Continue reading Threats from bears and lynx There was an impressive showing by Canadian agricultural writers and photographers at the 2008 Star Prize awards handed out at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in Graz, Austria yesterday.
Continue reading Canada cleans up 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 the eye’s delight was mountain after mountain after mountain. I could have stayed there forever. What made it even more unusual was that we were touring an average mountain beef farm. I’ve been to a lot of impressive beef farms in Ontario but none have the view of these, to be sure. Continue reading Beef farming in a postcard setting  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. Continue reading From Austria to Australia; IFAJ delegates come together 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 so I had jokingly told friends I was taking my own personal translator to Austria. Continue reading English – and music – are the common denominators 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 from 16 countries to come together to tour farms and talk shop. But that is exactly what our tour today was all about. Continue reading Slovakian agriculture after communism | |
