Winnipeg, Manitoba – September 22, 2025 – At the annual conference of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) in Winnipeg on Saturday, hometown editor and journalist Laura Rance was presented with the CFWF Lifetime Achievement Award.
Laura was raised on a grain and livestock farm near Sperling, Manitoba, where her father was one of the early adopters of zero tillage. After high school, she studied journalism at Red River Community College, graduating in 1981.
Laura got her reporting start with community weeklies in Manitoba’s Interlake region, later moving to Brandon as a reporter for the Brandon Sun. Her next stop was the Calgary Herald, but she was attracted home to Manitoba to become the agricultural reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press.
Her skill in that role later brought an offer to be the Manitoba reporter for the Western Producer, where she spent several years before accepting an offer to be associate editor of the Manitoba Co-operator.
Over the years she has contributed regularly to regional activities of the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association. She has served on the CFWF organizing committee multiple times when MFWBA has hosted, heading up tour and professional development planning. She was particularly involved in the Canadian-hosted IFAJ 2023, co-chairing a highly successful professional development program.
Following the Co-operator’s change of ownership in April 2002, Laura and four colleagues were terminated. The following June, they started a new publication, Farmers Independent Weekly, which ran successfully for five years. In 2007, Laura and her colleagues were welcomed back by Glacier Media, the new owner of Farm Business Communications, and she returned as editor of the Co-operator.
In 2016, Laura was appointed editorial director of Glacier FarmMedia, and is now executive editor, production content lead for all print and online publications. In addition to her writing for farmers, for which she has won several awards, Laura has for 25 years explained agriculture to an urban audience through a weekly column in the Saturday business section of the Winnipeg Free Press.
Laura lives in Carman, Manitoba with her husband Gord, and with her horse — a lifetime enthusiasm for equines is one she shares with her daughter Kathlyn.
The nomination was submitted by Crystal Jorgenson, Gord Gilmour, and Trevor Bacque, all members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation.