I'm pleased be to a member of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council communications advisory committee. We spend our time trying to help develop communications strategies that will address human resource challenges in agriculture. One of those challenges is attracting young people to farming. In my latest column in Farm Credit Canada's AgriSuccess Journal, I make the case that something as common as high-speed Internet access can play a role in making farming more attractive. If you're in business (i.e. farming) and young, being cut-off from meaningful electronic communication is pretty tough, especially with farmers increasingly going online. In its spring 2009 industry bulletin, AgMedia (publisher of Better Farming magazine) says 16 per cent of farmers go online multiple times a day, for farm-related reaons. Nineteen per cent are on daily and 28 per cent are on once a week.
OWEN ROBERTS
Owen Roberts is an agricultural journalist and communications instructor based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He is a trustee on the Global Foundation for Agricultural Journalism and an associate editor (communications) for the Journal of Agromedicine. Previously, Owen was president of the International Forum for Agricultural Journalists, an agricultural communications faculty member at the University of Illinois, and research communications director at the University of Guelph. His programs and research papers have been recognized through awards from the Journal of Applied Communications, the National Agri-Marketing Association, the Association for Communications Excellence and the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation.