There’s no webinar like an IFAJ webinar!
Other webinars in food and agriculture serve a diverse audience; we have only our members in mind when we compile our webinars. So they’re truly focused, tailored to members’ needs – journalists and communicators – and provideg not just knowledge, contacts and insight, but thought-provoking discussion too.
Many of you have already taken part in our opening webinars of the 2024/25 season: the two events facilitated by IFAJ’s new Global Network Partner, Syngenta, in our new ‘Sharing the Knowledge’ initiative.
‘Understanding Plant Breeding’ gave Syngenta’s Uri Krieger and Ian Jepson the opportunity to use the history of plant breeding as a context to better understand its importance in successful crop production. And to celebrate ten years of World Soil Day, Syngenta’s Chief Soil Scientist, Matthew Wallenstein used the theme of “Caring for Soils: Measure, Monitor, Manage” to focus on how soil data and information can be used to understand soil characteristics and support farmers’ decision-making on sustainable soil management.
Both webinars were not only excellent in their quality, but also some of the best-attended webinars IFAJ has ever run. But if you missed either of them, don’t worry! The recordings are available on the IFAJ website: https://www.ifaj.org/our-programmes/webinars/
More ‘Sharing the Knowledge’ webinars will follow in 2025. We’re already enthusing about the next topics, particularly those where we can make use of Syngenta’s own enviable network to bring in other experts on topics as diverse as regenerative agriculture, agricultural politics, trade agreements’ effect on agriculture, and others. We may even run a hybrid webinar, live from South Africa, when the Executive Committee has its mid-term meeting in March!
We’re also hoping to pull in members of Syngenta’s own communications team for a practical discussion to continue the theme of our own recent webinar, ‘Principles and Principals: Balancing the Roles of the Journalist and the Communicator’. Here we heard from panellists Olivia Cooper (UK), Pam Caraway (USA), Rachel Martin (Ireland), Micke Godtfredsen (Finland) and Alpha Ousmare Souaré (Guinea), delving into the very roots of our profession and followed by a lively Q&A. Again, if you missed it, there’s always catch-up!
For those who registered for the ‘Sharing the Knowledge’ webinars, an evaluation form is on its way to you: we’re really keen to find out what worked and what didn’t, so that we can continue to improve on the success of these early ones. And if you do end up watching either the Plant Breeding or Soil Health webinars on catch-up, please do complete the survey: every contribution counts.
We’ve earmarked some dates in February for the next webinar, so watch out for the eAlert and registration emails when they land in your inbox…or sign up to the list if you’re not yet an IFAJ email subscriber!
Finally, tell us if there are specific topics you’d like to see. Syngenta’s support for our ‘Sharing the Knowledge’ series opens up whole new topics – so if there’s something you’d like to see explored, tell us about it. Email IFAJ’s secretary general, Adrian Bell, with ideas, requests and suggestions: adrian.bell@agromavens.com