FOAG press office denies journalist information

Jürg Jordi, head of communications at the FOAG, refuses to allow freelance agricultural journalist Eveline Dudda to contact the press office from now on. She may only contact the FOAG's legal service. They will then decide whether it is a media inquiry or a request under the Publicity Act, which may also be subject to a fee depending on the case.

According to the Sonntagszeitung, Dudda's research is sometimes a nuisance for the authority. Her article in Schweizer Bauer about the disappearance of 500 million kilos of milk, for example, prompted the Zurich Farmers' Association to file a supervisory complaint against the FOAG.

An article about so-called direct payment excesses among individual farmers also caused an uproar. In order to investigate the frequency of such excesses, data on individual farms would be needed - and only the FOAG has this data, the journalist told the Sonntagszeitung. In response to her requests, Dudda only received part of the data she had requested. When she insisted on her rights, a scandal ensued.

Jordi emphasized to the Sonntagszeitung that the whole thing was a matter between the federal office and Dudda. The inquiries from the specialist journalist were merely "channeled", he said, due to the amount of work involved. There was no question of cold-calling or harassment.