I came across an op-ed criticizing non-local food from U.S. politician Bob Haefner recently, but it wasn’t against imports from Canada or elsewhere, as I expected — it was against products grown in his own country. ...
Read MoreWithout clean water and healthy soil, we’re going to have a hard time feeding the growing population. In this week’s Urban Cowboy, I talk about the way forward, based on discussions I’ve had with University of...
Read MoreSmall grape growers, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the Greenbelt, the provincial government, the two major wine manufacturers in Ontario — they’re all caught up in an ugly battle that’s getting worse in...
Read MoreThe International Federation of Agricultural Journalists is holding its annual congress in Guelph and Niagara Falls in September, 2011. The congress — which hasn’t taken place in Canada since 1967 — has a new...
Read MoreThanks to farms.com interactive media editor Andrew Campbell for alerting me and the student video crew at SPARK to the YouTube Reporters’ Center. Anyone involved in journalism and communications inside or outside of...
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Owen Roberts is a faculty member in the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications program at the University of Illinois. As an agricultural journalist, he is the past president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and a lifetime achievement award recipient from the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation. His programs and research papers have been recognized nationally and internationally through awards from the Journal of Applied Communications, the National Agri-Marketing Association, the Association for Communications Excellence, and others.