IFAJ Congress

1 October 2007

Six Australian journalists and broadcasters took part in the first IFAJ Congress in Asia, held in Japan last month.

The sell-out event attracted rural journalists and communicators from more than 20 countries, and provided rare opportunities to visit Japanese farms and agricultural research sites, food processors, wholesale and retail markets, and to discuss agricultural policy, including Australia’s negotiations with Japan to establish a Free Trade Agreement.

Pictured at the final official banquet in Sendai are (from left) Rice Today Magazine editor, Adam Barclay, originally from Adelaide and now based in the Philippines with the International Rice Research Institute; Farm Weekly journalist and Alltech Young Leaders Award winner Paul Hooper, from Perth, who is also president of the Rural Media Association of WA; NSW communicator Neil Inall; Tamworth-based The Land journalist Matthew Cawood; freelance writer and PR consultant, Liz Kellaway, from Adelaide, who is Australia’s official delegate to the IFAJ and editor of the IFAJ News; ABC Rural national editor Leigh Radford, also from Adelaide; and Melbourne-based ABC Rural Radio national reporter Edwina Farley.