STAR reporter tops agriculture journalism awards

MANILA, Philippines — The STAR’s Louise Maureen Simeon has bagged the highest prize in a yearly agriculture journalism awards for reporting on the impact of  rice tariffication on farmers’ lives.

Simeon, who used to cover agriculture prior to her transfer to the socioeconomic planning beat, won the Agriculture Story of the Year in the 14th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

Her report, titled “A year into tariffication, farmers feel worse off,” tackled how the passage of the Rice Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA) pulled the prices of palay to the detriment of farmers and their income.

The RTLA, passed into law in 2019, applied corresponding tariffs on rice imports on one end, but also removed volume restrictions on the other. As a consequence, it gave cheap imports a free rein over the consumer market and sent farmgate prices to record lows.

In receiving the award, Simeon dedicated the accolade to farmers who she used to cover in her five-year stint as an agriculture reporter. She also thanked The STAR and her editors, headed by Marianne Go, for providing her an opportunity to publish the story.

In the 2019 cycle of Bright Leaf, Simeon won the Best Story in Tobacco Product Alternatives for a feature on Philip Morris’ vision of a smoke-free future through heat-not-burn devices.

Since its inception in 2007, Bright Leaf honors the most outstanding stories and photos in print, radio, television and online that tackle issues on agriculture, especially on tobacco farming.

Sponsored by Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc., it hopes to bring to the forefront the pressing concerns on agriculture, as well as best practices, sustainability efforts and innovative developments.