IFAJ’s unique Boot Camp brought together the IFAJ/Alltech Young Leaders and IFAJ/Corteva Master Class for a two-day professional development workshop. Boot Camp included a day of farm visits and a day of workshops on leadership and reporting.
“Thanks to the generosity of Alltech and Corteva, we have been able to make Young Leaders and Master Class more than just prestigious awards,” said Steve Werblow, IFAJ secretary-general. “These programs provide an opportunity for the participants to focus on developing their skills as journalists and as leaders, and a unique chance to connect with colleagues from around the world.”
In July, the group visited Far-Gaze Farms—a large corn-and-soybean operation that is still recovering from a tornado that destroyed its storage bins and several buildings last year—and Kieffer Dairy Farm, a 400-cow family operation with a strong conservation ethic. At a lunch sponsored by Alltech, they met Jim Compart of Compart Family Farms, whose breeding and nutrition program is renowned for yielding high-quality pork.
Valuable Experience
Samantha Tennant, a Young Leader from New Zealand, described the experience as “incredible.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the other Young Leaders and Master Class participants, and learnt so much from them and the team who looked after us in Minnesota,” Tennant said. “Visiting the farms provided great insight into how America farms compared to my home country, New Zealand, and I also enjoyed chatting to everyone else, comparing notes from their countries.”
Luiz Pitombo, a Brazilian journalist in the Master Class, echoed the importance of exchanging perspectives with colleagues in the Boot Camp.
“It seemed to me an excellent opportunity to bring together professionals from around the world and provide their improvement,” Pitombo said. “In this way, we had activities directed to a fixed and small group of agricultural journalists, which allowed us to have a closer contact with exchange of ideas and information about their respective countries and their work.”
Strengthening IFAJ
The benefits of Boot Camp are immediate for each participant, but over time, they also strengthen IFAJ as an organization, Werblow noted.
“It’s amazing to see the number of Young Leaders and Master Class alumni when you look around the Delegate Assembly and see who attends Congress,” he said. “Many guilds have been established by journalists who have gone home from Master Class excited to create such opportunities for their colleagues in their home countries. And in established guilds, dozens of Young Leaders have stepped up into active roles on the national and global levels. The ripple effects of these programs can be felt throughout our industry and around the world.
“We are deeply grateful for the support we receive from Alltech for the Young Leader program and Corteva for Master Class—not just their generous financial support, but their commitment to creating an outstanding learning experience for each participant in the Boot Camp,” Werblow added.
Behind the scenes and throughout the program, IFAJ global assistant Norma Tolhurst and American journalist (and Young Leader alumna) Jessie Scott spent countless hours on logistics, planning, travel assistance and—in Scott’s case—on-scene management to make the program a success.
The 2019 Boot Camp included the following participants:
The IFAJ/Alltech Young Leader Program:
Prince Appiah, Ghana
Moses Bailey, Liberia
Kasey Brown, USA
Marzell Buffler, Germany
Melissa Dahlqvist, Sweden
Louise Denvir, Ireland
Abi Kay, United Kingdom
Samantha Tennent, New Zealand
Angus Verley, Australia
The IFAJ/Corteva Master Class:
Busani Bafana, Zimbabwe
Keron Bascombe, Trinidad
Andreas Canales Leal, Mexico
Rusudan Gigashvili, Georgia
Talib Ussi Hamad, Tanzania
Constanza Mantelli, Chile
Judith Lembela Mupeta, Zambia
Luiz Pitombo, Brazil
Unfortunately, Young Leader Seedy Darboe of The Gambia and Master Class selectees Arimo Moi Williams of Uganda and Keddimetse van der Westhuizen of Botswana could not attend this year’s Boot Camp.