Agricultural Journalist Off To UK

MEDIA RELEASE 23 April 2008

Agricultural Journalist Off To Uk To Look At Food Miles

Young Canterbury-based agricultural journalist, Tim Fulton, is heading off to the UK in June to investigate the perception and reality of food miles for British farmers, retailers and consumers.

Fulton is the recipient of the 2007-08 NZ-UK Link Foundation Rural Journalist Travel Fellowship (the Link Rural Travel Fellowship), worth $5,000. This award marks the opening of 50th anniversary celebrations for the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists & Communicators this year that will culminate in a special national conference in Wellington in October.

His two tour itinerary in late June/early July will see him talking to British farming leaders, retailers, meat traders and rural journalists. He will also visit New Zealand’s trade representatives in the UK and attend two of the UK’s leading agricultural shows – the Royal Norfolk show and the Royal Show.

Announcing the award at a function in Auckland on 21 April, Guild president and senior agricultural correspondent, Hugh Stringleman said the Guild sees the Fellowship as an important way of encouraging young people in the profession and opening doors that would otherwise be closed to them.

“Not only will this give Tim the opportunity to reflect on the past 50 years of change in agriculture, it is an exciting window for him to look at what might happen in the next 20,” he said, adding that so much of New Zealand’s agricultural expertise came from the UK, which remains this country’s largest food customer.

The Link Foundation’s New Zealand chairman Mark Horton commented that, both historically and on an ongoing basis, agriculture is a strong link which exists between the two countries, as well as being a dynamic industry not free of controversy. “So, the proposal from the Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators for financial assistance to send a journalist to the UK was one which the Foundation judged to be squarely within its aims and very happy to support,” Link Foundation chairman Mark Horton said.

Tim Fulton, 32, is the current editor of New Zealand Farmers Weekly newspaper, and appears as a farming correspondent on TV One’s Business Breakfast Show and on the nationally syndicated radio programme, The Farming Show.

The NZ-UK Link Foundation was formed to mark the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. It exists to enhance the links between NZ and the UK and it does that through a series of educational, cultural and vocational fellowships in a wide variety of fields.

Further information from:

• Ali Spencer, NZ-UK Link Foundation. Email: spencerpr@paradise.net.nz. Mobile: 021-344 286.
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• Tim Fulton: Mobile: 0274 746 007
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Notes to editors

• The NZ-UK Link Foundation Rural Travel Fellowship is one of two New Zealand Discretionary Fellowships awarded by the NZ-UK Link Foundation in the 2007-08 year. The other supports three members of the Choir of the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul to travel to the UK for a tour later this year.
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• Applications are invited now for the 2008-09 round of NZ-UK Link Foundation New Zealand Discretionary Fellowships and will close again on 31 July 2008. These are awarded annually to New Zealand resident individuals or citizens or groups enabling them to undertake educational or vocational study projects in the UK. Successful candidates will demonstrate the reciprocal benefit of their proposed project to both countries - and be in a position, on completion of the Fellowship, to communicate his/her experiences to interested groups. Further information and an application form can be found at the web-site www.nzuklinkfoundation.org.
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