YPARD Serbia finally got to be one of the important topics in the media. With this media outcome and the next which is yet to come, I strongly believe that young farmers will hear YPARDs message and decide to be part of our team.
On June 16th I was one of the guests on the Agro TV in the show Nae dobro (Our good) talking about what is YPARD, which are the main problems young farmers face, as well as about what are they contribute to agriculture. My featured appearance on the show you can watch on 36th minute in the video below.
With the show hosts introduction, I was asked what is YPARD since not many people in Serbia is familiar with our platform. After explaining what is Young Professionals for Agricultural Development and which are the important organization YPARD is cooperating with, we got straight into how someone can become a YPARD member. This was one of the important parts of the interview because young farmers who were watching the show will hear and see about what kind of benefits YPARD can bring them. I explained that with a simple sign in, they have the approach to opportunities in jobs, funds and all sorts of educations they need in agricultural production and development.
We talked about YPARD Serbias priorities and how the main thing is to make the position of young farmers in Serbia better in agriculture with the help and cooperation of other agricultural institutions, associations, foundations, and organization which have similar a cause as YPARDs. Thats one of the first steps YPARD Serbia will make in this new mandate. After making a partnership with other organization, my plan is to hold lectures, grandstand or public discussions on topics that can help young farmers in agricultural development. Why? Because good information is half of the solution.
The interactive conversation with the interviewer reached its peak with the question what are the biggest challenges for young farmers in Serbia? This question I found to be the most important within the entire interview as once the government and ministry of agriculture hear about the fact that young farmers are a crucial part of Serbian economy and agriculture, things will improve for all farmers in the country. Among all challenges farmers face in Serbia, I decided to say that market is the biggest one, because most young farmers with whom I have interviewed thus far, told me that no matter the financial issue or hard work or lack of right information, they need their product to be sold. Second thing is that youth in agriculture are not well informed about all opportunities they have in the way of startup funding.
YPARD Serbia has a strong intention as with help of other institutions, companies and entrepreneurs access to the market for young farmers product will be for certain. Also, with daily news about funds, the youth will no longer have problems with starting their production.
We discussed where Serbian farmers stand in relation to young farmers in Europe, the importance of young farmers voice in any agricultural debate and in what way youth is relevant in agriculture, climate change, and food production. From my point of view and done research, young farmers are serious and responsible when it comes to their production, they have great resource utilization and they are more interested in product quality than quantity.
I made sure to highlight that anybody who is interested to become a part of the YPARD Serbia team can contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., as well as share with me their story, their issues and necessities in farming. Also, I mention that they can also contact the YPARD Serbia working team on our Facebook community Mladi u agaru (Young in agriculture) and of course our Facebook group YPARD Serbia.
Producers use photographs of young farmers I took and a video Ivana Radic Jean, former YPARD Serbia country representative sent me, during the interview so everything looked more authentic.
After the video was published I noticed that more people liked our FB page Mladi u agraru, ask to join YPARD Serbia and looked at the blog stories, so Im happy to hear more about young farmers who needs YPARDs help. In the near future there will be more interviews and media stories about YPARD Serbia, stay tuned!
Picture & Video credit: Nae dobro