The winner of the third annual IFAJ-YARA Award for Sustainable Agriculture Reporting is a team of Gregg Hillyer, Barb Baylor Anderson, Charles Johnson, and Howard G. Buffet of the USA.
From left to right: Charles Johnson, a member of the winning team of reporters from USA, Patricio Galan, Director of Yara Argentina, S.A., Matthew Cranston collecting the runner-up award on behalf of Prue Adams of Australia and Karen Simon of USA collecting the third place prize won by Steve Baragona.Their story “Bursting at the Seams” was published in The Progressive Farmer in 2012.
Second place went to Prue Adams of Australia for her broadcast on ABC Landline, entitled “Soil secrets.”
Steve Baragona of the USA received third place for his online story “Blended organic-conventional farming could feed world” published in voanews.com.
The judges said Hillyer’s team’s report “illustrates the population growth challenge. It contained a lot of information well organized. It’s style was engaging and it was easy to read.”
Second place winner Adams had “a strong focus on science and technology, that is becoming an important aspect of feeding the world. Good use of scientists able to explain the science for a lay audience. Good reporting on all other measurements puts her ahead of the remaining applicants.”
The judges thanked Baragona, the third place winner, for presenting the role of organic agriculture in feeding the world sustainably ina balanced way and without judgment. “This report was very much on theme and easy to understand and well organized,” they said.
The awards were announced at the 2013 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress in Rosario, Argentina.
The competition drew 12 entries from nine countries. The theme was “Solving the 9 billion people problem: How can science and technology provide answers?”
Judges for the competition were Henning Otte Hansen of Denmark, Cathy Reade of Australia’s Crawford Fund and Karen Scanlon,Executive Director Conservation Technology Information Center, USA.
The competition coordinator was IFAJ Secretary General Riitta Mustonen of Finland. Further information about the IFAJ-YARA award is available on the IFAJ website at www.www.ifaj.org, or by contacting Mustonen at riitta.mustonen@mt1.fi.
