Rising agricultural journalists under the age of 35 from across the world have gathered for a special event taking place this week in Croatia.

The global Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award training event kicked off in Zagreb this morning (Monday, September 14).

The programme for emerging agri-journalists is run by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and supported by Alltech.

Agriland's Breifne O'Brien is one of the 10 young agri-journalists selected for this year's edition of the programme and is the only agri-journalist from either Ireland or the UK selected for the prestigious award.

The IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award

Proceedings kicked off in Zagreb this morning with a presentation from Alltech's vice president of Europe, Patrick Charlton.

Charlton explained the story of Alltech to the young leaders in attendance at the event.

He outlined how the business has grown from its beginnings to its scale today with over 6,000 staff and over 40,000 customers in over 130 countries with more than 75 manufacturing facilities.

However, the Alltech leader emphasised the importance of humility saying that size does not protect a business and discussed how business must remain relevant both today and into the future.

He gave the young leaders an inspiring presentation on the current situation facing global agriculture and the role that agri-journalists have in telling the story of both farming and the key industry stakeholders.

Croatia agriculture

Alltech's country manager for Croatia, Ivica Matanic explained some of the key statistics relating to agriculture in Croatia.

He said that there are approximately 134,000 farms in Croatia and that 71% of these are less than 5ha in size. The average farm size in Croatia is 11ha.

The Alltech country manager added that there are just under 2,800 dairy farms in Croatia with an average number of 24 cows.

According to Matanic, when Croatia joined the EU in 2013, while accession was good for the country as a whole, it was challenging for agriculture, particularly smaller-scale farms.

He explained that 20 years ago, the average number of dairy cows on farms in Croatia was six cows but there were over 60,000 farms.

While there are many small farms in the country, he also said that there are also several large-scale industrial farms in the east of the country involved in integrated production systems.

Some of these larger farms range in size from 5,000-20,000ha with from 500-6,000 cows. There are also pig units on these larger-scale farms ranging from 500-6,000 sows.

Matanic also highlighted some of the challenges faced by farmers in the country, with many similar to those faced by farmers in Ireland, such as labour, ageing farmer demographics, animal and plant diseases and investment.

IFAJ

IFAJ president Steve Werblow also addressed the event, providing some context on the roles, opportunities and responsibilities involved in agricultural journalism.

He included some deep-dives into key aspects of the role of agri-journalists in communicating stories that are relevant to the sector as well as looking at how the information is relevant to the wider society.

The young leaders will also be hearing from other key IFAJ staff, and former programme participants before going out to see farms from a range of sectors in Croatia.

Delegates will also attend the IFAJ 2026 World Congress, which is taking place in Osijek, Croatia, from September 16-20.

Stay tuned to Agriland for further updates and information from the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism programme and the IFAJ 2026 World Congress.