Where are the nice student reporters … with their cameras, microphones, t-shirts etc.? They should be running around, in between the lecture halls, getting all the backstage info. Well … this year, everything is different.

Instead, there´s just me! ;-( – Ralph is my name, a 50y old freelance journalist, based in Cologne, Germany. I´m an author, reporter – and media trainer. With the last function I came to Tropentag, supporting the student reporters before the conference by improving their journalistic skills. As I´m also a member of ATSAF, the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (and the host of Tropentag), the board ask me to cover the conference and blog about it. As I said … this year, everything is different.

Do I have a agricultural background? No, not really. My grandfather was a part-time farmer. I worked for many years for Germanys largest NGO, Welthungerhilfe – first as a spokesperson, later as a freelance reporter. By this, I had the chance to get to now many details in rural development.