For the first time in the 47-year history of the Guild’s Yara-sponsored Agricultural Journalism Awards, entrants from the same publication – Farmers Weekly – won all three categories.
The awards, administered by Yara UK marketing manager Rosie Carne, were presented by the company’s UK managing director Tove Andersen at the Guild’s harvest lunch at the Thistle Charing Cross Hotel, London.
Europe editor Philip Clarke won the Arable category for his story on European Union sugar production negotiations, the subsequent deal and its impact on UK growers.
The judges described the article as a “well-researched, forward-thinking and valuable piece of writing, giving sugar beet growers a sound insight into the complexities of changes to the EU Sugar Regime and helping them to decide on their future cropping strategies.”
Livestock editor Jonathan Long won the Livestock & Grassland category for his Vanishing Vets article, about which the judges said: “The impact and influence of this article went beyond readers in its original publication, making headlines in Vet Record.
The winning article was based around a survey conducted by the magazine. It was unique and signalled the size of a problem that has hitherto been ignored. This article helped to quantify and pinpoint the reasons behind the exodus of farm vets from the industry.”
Farmers Weekly food miles campaign director Julian Gairdner was successful in the Environment & Rural Issues category with his article urging farmers to promote the food they produce.
Judges said that of all the articles in this category it had “created the greatest impact, was topical and of interest not just to the farming community but to all consumers.”
