Guelph Mercury editors usually use the headlines I send in with my weekly column. But sometimes they don’t, and I’m happy this week they chose their own (which I’ve borrowed here for my blog) because it makes...
Read MoreYou have to credit Ottawa for at least doing something to help shore-up Canada’s the flagging pork sector. But it is enough? The Canadian Pork Council originally asked for $800 million. Ottawa offered about $75 million. I...
Read MoreFlorida State agriculture commissioner Charles H. Bronson is adding his name to the list of those who think “swine flu” is a misnomer for H1N1. The story about his opposition to the name can be found here. ...
Read MoreGord Sloan of Guelph (pictured here) is leading an effort to wean the CBC off the term swine flu and instead get its newsroom to use H1N1, which he says is more appropriate and less damaging to the pork sector. I write about the...
Read MoreThe hand-wringing continues over fairness in reporting H1N1 flu, also unpopularly known as swine flu among pork producers. Jim Evans and the crew at the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center at the University of...
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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.