Farm Journal Announces Support for the Sonja Hillgren/Farm Journal Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute
Farm Journal will fund a field reporting institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia in honor of MU alumna Sonja Hillgren, who died in December after serving for decades as the nation’s premier farm writer.
Farm Journal officials announced April 16 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that they would commit $35,000 over the next five years to the institute, which will be named the Sonja Hillgren/Farm Journal Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute.
"In remembrance of Sonja Hillgren, Farm Journal is funding an experience for journalism students that will allow her spirit to live on," said Charlene Finck, vice president, editorial, and editor of the journal.
The institute, conducted for the first time last fall and under a different name, is a three-day, expedition-style field trip. It is the backbone of "Field Reporting on Food and Natural Resources," a course run by the MU Agricultural Journalism Program in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources in cooperation with the Missouri School of Journalism.
The institute explores the vast scientific, economic and social changes under way in U.S. agriculture and their impact on the food supply and the environment. Students meet, learn from and interview leading researchers, government officials, food industry representatives, farmers and others. This interaction occurs out in the fields, on the rivers and at the facilities where these issues take shape.
Goals of the institute include helping students:
- become better field reporters, interviewers and writers of complex explanatory stories.
- gain a better understanding of the challenges and complexities of thorough, engaging explanatory journalism that addresses many dimensions of key public policy issues.
- gain a better understanding of key issues in agriculture, the life sciences and natural resources, largely through on-the-ground experience.
"As an alumna and longtime supporter of the University of Missouri and its School of Journalism, Sonja saw great value in this institute’s mission," Finck said. "She applauded the pilot year of this institute and its efforts to get students in the field to practice their craft."
Hillgren also appreciated the opportunity for students to learn from professional journalists who take part in the trip as traveling faculty, Finck said.
"We are grateful to the people of Farm Journal for their critical support of this important new educational initiative," said MU Vice Chancellor and CAFNR Dean Tom Payne. "We’re also deeply honored to have it named for Sonja Hillgren. The example she set as a preeminent agricultural journalist will inspire our students for generations."
The announcement of the Sonja Hillgren/Farm Journal Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute was made during a tribute to Hillgren at the annual meeting of the North American Association of Agricultural Journalists.
Hillgren covered farm policy for nearly three decades for Farm Journal, United Press International and Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
Read more about Sonja Hillgren in the Farm Journal:
To learn more about the course and to make a donation:
