Jez Fredenburgh is joining the BGAJ Council to work on Communications and she will also be helping to organise the IFAJ Congress 2029. Here’s she discusses her route into agricultural journalism.
Describe your role in a sentence – what’s the core of what you do each day?
I’m currently working as senior analyst (food and climate) at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), an NGO based in London. I dig into the latest data, reports and research on the link between the UK food system and climate change, make sense of it and join the dots. I then work with journalists and MPs to make sure they have access to accurate evidence and informed experts on this topic. Overall, the aim is to support informed debate on food, farming and climate change.
How did your career path lead you into agricultural journalism, and was this always your plan?
I had always wanted to be a journalist, and I always knew I wanted to work in food and farming. Those two things came together the day I spotted a copy of Farmers Weekly on a farmhouse kitchen table. I thought that working there would make me a better journalist, because I’d learn about the realities of food and farming from the ground up.
What aspects of your background or upbringing help you connect with the farming community?
I grew up on a farm in France, and when I went to university, I did my dissertation on food security and climate change. I then spent several years working on food-related issues for different organisations before becoming a journalist, so I’ve always been rooted in this world.
If you weren’t writing about food and farming, what other beat would you cover – and why?
Travel. It’s something I’ve written about already, usually through a food lens. Being paid to travel, write about an amazing place and meet incredible people feels like one of the most exciting jobs you can have.
What’s the most unusual or memorable story tip you’ve received from a reader?
At Farmers Weekly, I once received a muddy handwritten letter with dog paw prints on it from a farmer who wanted to explain how I had confused the terms “value” and “price” in the Land section I was editing. I kept it pinned to my desk the whole time I worked there.
Who has been your favourite interviewee so far, and why?
There have been so many, but one standout was world-renowned US regenerative farmer Gabe Brown for a Farmers Guardian podcast. Another was a Colombian coffee farmer who had lost everything in the FARC conflict and rebuilt his life through agri-tourism. The interviews I enjoy most are with farmers I’ve built relationships with over several years.
What has been the toughest or most emotionally challenging story you’ve covered?
In 2017, I spent months speaking to a farming family caught in a loan scam that had effectively cost them their farm. The story never ran due to potential legal issues, but it was one of the hardest I’ve worked on.
What misconception about agriculture do you wish more people understood?
That farming is made up of real people and families doing their best. It’s often painted as one big monolithic industry, but most farmers produce what they do – and in the way they do it – because of policies, demand and the wider system they operate within.
What emerging trend should agricultural journalists pay more attention to?
Understanding consumers and the wider food system: how farming fits into it, and the pressures like diet, health, climate and public opinion that will drive major changes.
What are you planning to bring to the Guild?
Experience and perspectives that go beyond farming alone – looking at the wider food system – as well as a more global outlook.
Tell us something readers might be surprised to learn.
I once found myself on a last-minute flight to the Czech Republic to help film and interview Hollywood A-lister Jennifer Lawrence, who was receiving an MTV award.
Fredenburgh in a minute…
Coffee order: Oat milk cappuccino (my stomach can’t handle milk, even if I can eat cheese till the cows come home)
Dogs or cats? Dogs, every time
Last book read: 1984 by George Orwell – bleak, but I feel obliged to finish it
Karaoke tune: Help! by The Beatles
Favourite weekend escape: In summer, kayaking on a river; in winter, a brisk coastal walk followed by a cosy pub. Otherwise, the Alentejo region of Portugal among olive groves and cork trees.
