In this week’s Urban Cowboy column, I’m tying together a new OECD report on the potential for biotechnology with a movement in Canada to unite agricultural policy and health policy. Canada has a unique opportunity...
Read MoreIf you’re a member of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, your exercise in agricultural citizen journalism can now be listed under the new “blogs” section of the IFAJ website. Just send...
Read MoreThe auto sector gets $10 billion. Forestry gets $1 billion. And pork gets…well, it asked for $800 million because the industry is crashing, but it’s getting nothing from Ottawa other than money for increased...
Read MoreRadio has traditionally been held out as the go-to communications technology for agricultural extension work in underdeveloped countries. Now, a new study is showing the potential for video, too. In central Benin, a study of...
Read MoreA campaign to save Canada’s six prison farms is the topic of my Urban Cowboy column this week in the Guelph Mercury. Part of the campaign includes a letter-writing exercise, which appears to have prompted a letter to the...
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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.