Thanks to DuPont Pioneer, agricultural journalists from developing countries get the chance to attend the IFAJ-congress. A great opportunity for journalists who are serious about their job, but it also interferes with serious journalism. Is there an answer to this predicament?

Farming, one might say, is not rocket science. No, it’s even more difficult! Rocket Science is a study where a whole team works on one goal: bringing a rocket into the sky. Farming involves one man or one woman making crucial daily decisions on a wide range of topics.
All farmers are different. They have varying capacities and ambitions. They all work under different conditions: climate, weather conditions, access to markets and finance, the availability of resources, access to water, credits and knowledge.
Luckily, most farmers can find advice from different people around them. But the decisions, he has to make by himself. Therefore, it’s crucial that the farmer receives the best information.
The best information for the farmer is independent information. The knowledge is not coloured by the interest of activists or companies wanting to sell more than farmers need and want to buy more from them than they are willing to pay for. This kind of information primarily serves the interest of the messenger, not the farmer.
The weight of the independency and pluriformity – the impartiality and variety of information reaching the farmer is too often overlooked worldwide.
Just with one look at the diverse range of farmers’ magazines around the world, I can say most information that comes to the farmer is coloured by the agribusiness.
It would be worthwhile for the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists to conduct a bit of research on this topic. How much of the actual information in the media that targets the farmer comes from which different types of messengers? And what is their most important interest?
And, in case the information provided is mainly from parties with a different interest than the farmer (which is most likely), what can be done against this?
It would be a great theme to pick up during one of the yearly conferences. The masterclass would be the designated place for this.
The masterclass is sponsored by DuPont Pioneer. This doesn’t mean the masterclass will not be professional. Judging from what I heard about previous sponsored masterclasses, I am sure the participants will learn a lot. But this kind of sponsorship does not have anything to do with independence.
Predicament
Farming is incredibly difficult, but providing farmers with truly independent information might be even harder. Journalists deal with an enormous predicament. They operate in a commercial world and of c course want to get paid for their job.
Farmers, however, are not able to pay for all the information those journalists provide. And they don’t have to. The commercial sector is big enough and willing to pay the biggest part.
Yes, this undermines independence. It undermines credibility in the eyes of the farmers who read it. What can be done against this? Is there a way out?
I think this would be a great topic to discuss during that masterclass.
© Marc van der Sterren
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