Farmers need to explain what they mean by sustainability

Owen Roberts April 12th, 2010

Farmers on both sides of the Canada-US border have chosen sustainability as a rallying cry. It’s a familiar term to the urban politicians and others they’re trying to influence. I think most people associate the term with environmental sustainability, though, and farmers will have to work hard to explain that their definition includes economic viability. Sustainability doesn’t pack up into a tight 30-second elevator speech the way their last slogan, Farmers Feed Cities, did. I cover the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition-led  campaign in my Urban Cowboy column in today’s Guelph Mercury.

Milk debate is about safety, not choice

Owen Roberts April 5th, 2010

I’m dedicating this edition of my Urban Cowboy column to the raw milk debate, which I believe is about safety, not choice.  Despite years and reams of evidence that pasteurized milk is safer, states that should know better, such as Wisconsin (America’s self-declared dairyland) are considering legislation to legalize raw milk sales. That’s unbelievable. Read my column here in the Guelph Mercury.

In the column, I also bring in the safety of sushi, and note an Ontario law that was created to ensure restaurants freeze sushi first to kill parasites.  It turns out that law was short-lived.

The graphic below is from e.coli blog.

Guest blogger Vanessa Perkins: How the intersex horse story came to be

Owen Roberts March 30th, 2010

I asked SPARK writer Vanessa Perkins (pictured below) to be my guest blogger here today, to recount the way the University of Guelph intersex horse story developed for her. It’s become a local and national story, appearing everywhere from the Guelph Mercury as a SPARKplug she wrote herself (as per an agreement we have with the Mercury) to CTV News. Here’s the way it happened…with the take-home message for journalists being to keep listening after you think the interview is over.

Vanessa is currently a communications intern with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Ontario region headquarters in Guelph.

* * *

You sometimes find a lot more than you go looking for – as University of Guelph scientists and SPARK writers have found.

As a SPARK student writer, I had the opportunity to meet with several University of Guelph researchers. Dr. Allan King, biomedical science researcher, and I were discussing a state-of-the-art lab recently built in the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) for an article in the upcoming issue of the Research magazine.

While meeting with Dr. King, and after discussing the lab, we started talking about some of the other research he and his colleagues were now able to do with the new pieces of equipment , such as PCR analysis, cell cloning, better analysis of intersex horses…

Better analysis of what? I had to ask! Dr. King explained they’d found horses that appeared to be females, but after exhibiting some strange behaviour, and upon closer analysis at the OVC, were found to be male.

After excitedly passing the story idea on to others at SPARK, it turned out I wasn’t the only person who was intrigued by the topic! I was lucky enough to meet again with Dr. King and his colleague Dr. Tracey Chenier, who explained the phenomenon to me in detail. It’s now being retold across Canada.

It just goes to show – in communications, expect the unexpected!

- Vanessa Perkins

Fun is key to direct farm marketing success

Owen Roberts March 29th, 2010

I was fortunate to participate last week in Farm Credit Canada‘s Marketing Caravan stopover in Guelph, hosted by Ontario Farm Fresh Association and supported by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The program emphasized direct marketing, and underlined how producers need to make farm experiences fun by offering features such as corn mazes (the Buy Local! Buy Fresh! maze pictured below is near Thamesville, Ontario, and comes from the “Corn Maize” website). I write about what I learned during the caravan’s visit in my Urban Cowboy column in today’s Guelph Mercury.

You can find information about Guelph-Wellington local food promotions here.

Canada’s new advantage in agri-food is traceability

Owen Roberts March 22nd, 2010

Quality, reliability and safety are traditionally the key selling points abroad for Canadian farm commodities and food products. The pristine, clean and green image resonates with buyers, and it’s helped boost Canada’s agricultural exports more than six per cent during each of the new millennium’s first eight years.  But with international food standards reaching new highs, and people everywhere asking tough questions about food, change is in the air. Craig Bremner, the Guelph-based vice-president of agriculture for TD Canada Trust, says Canada must start focusing on another trait that can set it aside from competitors — that is, traceability. I cover his perspective, and others, in my Urban Cowboy column in today’s Guelph Mercury.

It turns out today, March 22, is also World Water Day. Traceability may be Canada’s new agri-food advantage, but water is a natural advantage whose importance is only starting to be realized. Below is Canada’s most famous water feature, Niagara Falls, being viewed from the Maid of the Mist, which delegates to the 2011 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists congress will have a chance to experience. The photo is from Planetware.

Print and online readership up for this newspaper

Owen Roberts March 20th, 2010

Newspapers are having their share of readership challenges, but the Guelph Mercury is bucking the trend. It’s carrying a story today about readership being up more than nine per cent for its print edition, and 10 per cent for the online version.  That’s encouraging for anyone who believes that when it comes to news, good content is as important as the medium in which it appears.

Welcome Oklahoma agricultural communications students

Owen Roberts March 18th, 2010

It was my pleasure this morning to welcome students and sponsors of the 2010 CanACT-Oklahoma State University agricultural communications exchange program. The CanACT members travelled to Oklahoma State during Guelph’s Reading Week in February; now, the Oklahoma students are in Guelph to take part in College Royal, farm tours and other events.

Thanks to Ross Wallace at Kubota Canada Ltd., Steven Larmer at the Students Federation of the Ontario Agricultural College, Claire Cowan and Erin Fletcher of the Grain Farmers of Ontario,  Lianne Appleby of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association,  Ian Rumbles of the OAC Alumni Association and Dean Rob Gordon of the Ontario Agricultural College for their support of the exchange, as well as the Dairy Farmers of Ontario.

Tomorrow we’re heading out for farm tours, including a beef farm. The photo below is an Ontario beef farm, courtesy of the Ontario Farm Animal Council photo library.

New food industry environmental group set to launch

Owen Roberts March 17th, 2010

April 6 is the launch of the Ontario Food Industry Environmental Coalition, a self-described access point between the food industry and the provincial government.  The coalition, which calls itself the food industry equivalent to the Ontario Farm Environmental Council, is holding a one-day symposium in Mississauga to get the ball rolling. The coalition comprises a number of food industry associations including the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors, the Ontario Agri-Business Association and Food and Consumer Products of Canada.  The coalition is being coordinated by Lisa McLean from the Alliance of Ontario Food Processors. Below is the graphic from the symposium.

Ottawa gets behind national young speakers competition

Owen Roberts March 16th, 2010

Enrolment in my Agricultural Communications I class at the University of Guelph has climbed since I began offering public speaking a few years ago. Students say public speaking helps them prepare for the inevitability of addressing a group, and they appreciate the opportunity to learn in an academic setting before they actually have to do it on the job. My class holds a speak-off with six top finishers going on to the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture competition at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto. I’m pleased to serve as the academic advisor to the program, which received a boost when Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada dedicated $100,000 to the event, through the Canadian 4-H Council. Hon. Gerry Ritz, minister of  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, is pictured here in Ottawa congratulating Canadian 4-H Council President Judy Shaw of Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, along with competition board chair Ted Young (middle, right) and president Eric Dalke.

Skills training vital for economic recovery

Owen Roberts March 15th, 2010

We expect modern farmers to be “green” engineers, bio-power specialists and local food marketers, among many other things. And that being the case, farmers need skills training, just like other professionals. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council came to Guelph last week for a regional meeting and heard some local opinions about the kind of skills required in farming, especially as knowledge  rapidly advances and the entire country looks to farming and food processing to lead it out of the economic doldrums. The council also heard about the critical labour shortage in agriculture. I cover its visit in my Urban Cowboy column today in the Guelph Mercury.

The photo below is from the council’s website.

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