Behind the byline is a new BGAJ series that looks beyond the finished article, image or broadcast to the craft behind it. It gives members the chance to reflect on a piece of work they’re especially proud of — whether it was challenging to report, tricky to research or creatively demanding — and to share how it came about, how it was made, and what made it memorable. In this first instalment, we hear from a member who takes us behind one such piece of work and the decisions, experiences and relationships that shaped it.
Arable farming 2050: the future of crop production
In technical journalism, it’s rare you’re afforded the opportunity to curate and research a feature that isn’t advice, research-based or hard-fact led; that’s centred on what some may coin blue-sky thinking, or even in the realm of crystal ball-ing.
However, in 2024 it was CPM’s 25th anniversary. In the past, similar birthdays for the magazine had been celebrated by looking back through the archives to reminisce on the agricultural systems gone by.
While nostalgia has a place, I felt as though this approach wasn’t very ‘Janine’, which led me to taking an alternative path and ask, what might arable farming look like in another 25 years’ time?
So, during the course of around four months, I set about interviewing a breadth of industry experts to gather thoughts on aspects such as plant health, agronomy, technology and crop varieties. In many ways, it became a labour of love – a special project that ran concurrently with the many other articles scheduled for the magazine.
Early doors it became apparent that to represent this topic fairly, it had to broadly feature two demographics – established commentators who’d in many ways, seen it all; and, younger, up-and-coming individuals. It had to both pay respect to those who’d driven the industry to where it is today, while providing a platform for the stalwarts of the future.
In reality, the main struggle was ensuring all of the content would fit into just five pages. With each conversation I found myself slipping into rabbit holes of fascination, buoyed by the passion and positivity each person imparted. In ways it was reassuring that we have such excellent, talented individuals working in the arable industry – we’re in safe hands.
However, it also became ‘how long is a piece of string?’, when drawing a line on how many commentators could be a part of it. As such, I made the decision to preserve all interview notes and follow the feature up with online deeper dives into each person’s perspective, which later became an entire new page on the CPM website.
I also made the perhaps controversial decision to run the feature in the magazine without any placed advertisements, and as the lead article (including the cover), to enable it to have the spotlight it deserved.
I speak to such fascinating people in this job, some of whom have become friends, but I am merely a vessel or conduit for their voices. This feature will long remain with me, not merely because it took effort to produce, but because I believe it’s a time capsule of thought leadership.
It was a joy to write, I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to do anything similar again, therefore it has to be one of my proudest pieces of work.
If you’d like to share a piece of work for a future Behind the byline feature, we’d love to hear from you. Full details on how to submit, along with guidance on what to include, can be found on the Behind the byline post.
