The Ontario Independent Meat Processors are trying to figure out ways to head off a shortage of butchers and others with what they call “knife skills.” Butchering is a trade that still cannot be performed...
Read MoreThe New Year started with a new agricultural communications partnership between SPARK, the University of Guelph co-operative education office, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Vanessa Perkins, a third-year psychology co-op...
Read MoreAs Canadians look back on what defined our food culture for the past decade and what shapes the next one, two milestones come to mind: our lone BSE cow, back in 2003, and more lately the impact of the Governor General’s...
Read MoreI’ve seen firsthand how Canadian chicken, egg and dairy farmers, who have the luxury of a quota system and controlled pricing, can put exceptional effort into food safety, animal housing and other welfare measures....
Read MoreLianne Appleby is doing a nice job editing Ontario Beef magazine, getting each edition off to a good start with insightful and entertaining editor’s notes. This month she describes Canadian farmers’ Internet uptake...
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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.