Agriculture ‘discovers’ new BC president

By Zoe Aikman

As a BC native and long-time board member, Ronda Payne’s new presidency of the BC regional association for CFWF comes as no surprise to those in the field. Over 14 years ago, Ronda was working in marketing, a career she had been led to because of her writing skills, “that just seemed to be the common theme for me; I’ve been a writer all my life.” 

Once she reached the end of that career, she went out on her own. She became a freelancer, where she met Cathy Glover, the editor of Country Life in BC and began writing for the publication. “Agriculture just kind of found me. I didn’t really intend to go into that area; it just sort of happened for me,” she expressed. 

Upon beginning her journey in agricultural journalism, Ronda quickly realized how little exposure this field has in the public eye— if someone like herself who had some knowledge and appreciation knew so little, how little does the rest of the world know? Payne stated that this became her impetus to stick with agricultural writing. It became her goal to educate more people on the importance of our food system in Canada, “I’ve come to really appreciate that our farmers in Canada are ridiculously intelligent people— they’re innovative, they’re strategic, they’re the hardest working people in the country. And they do so without telling their own stories enough. I think that’s one issue that we’re dealing with is that our farmers need to talk more about their experiences and get the chance to do so,” she said.

Concerning her involvement with the CFWF, she described the organization’s BC chapter as a “small but mighty group of writers” that have important stories to be told and get the job done. “Once I signed up, I was in, that was that,” she stated.  From there, she eased into the idea of being on the board and then quickly embraced the role, serving as secretary for several years before finally accepting the position as president. “It’s a super important organization to me, it’s ridiculously relevant, and I have a very strong team of people on the board with me so it didn’t seem so intimidating,” she said. 

When asked about the difficulties of the new role with the onset of COVID-19, Ronda seemed up for the challenge, “Coming into it this year and having been on the board already, I’m pretty aware of the challenges we’re facing to get people to come out”, she asserted, “The awareness of what can be done and what can’t be done is pretty firm, though I think if someone who came into that role without that background would maybe have struggled initially.” 

Concerning the things she would like to accomplish this year as president, Ronda underlined the importance of member connectivity, a goal the organization is emphasizing this year amidst the ongoing pandemic. “My big focus is that making sure members get what they need and that we are taking care of them the way that a member-driven organization should, and that going forward we are planning events and activities,” she asserted, “Obviously, initially those are going to be online based, we have a social planned already that will be zoom-based and I’m really hopeful that by the end of 2021 were going to have a sort of in-person activity as restrictions ease up, because we need it.” 

Payne further emphasized the importance of having an organization like CFWF support such an autonomous profession during these periods of isolation. “Being a writer is a very independent occupation, and I think that if we could just have more time with each other, it does give us the lift we need,” she said, “Writers need other writers; there’s no one who understands what we do like each other. We can take it that step further with CFWF because it’s a specific niche, and we absolutely need to support each other, now especially, but always.”

Mobilizing agricultural knowledge: Owen Roberts is on a mission

By Zoe Aikman

Just as he was at the cusp of retiring after 33 years of teaching and research administration at the University of Guelph, Owen Roberts was given a unique opportunity: expand the agricultural communications program at the University of Illinois, one of the oldest and most established agricultural communications programs on the continent. Roberts accepted this challenge and now holds a teaching and development-oriented faculty position. Through this position, Roberts hopes to bring some international qualities to the program. “Given how the world has developed with COVID-19 and globalized trade, having some international perspective is really important,” he said, “Whatever the Illinois students end up doing, they’ll be a cut above if they have an understanding of agriculture globally.”

Roberts has also recently been asked to chair a task force on education, training and professional development with the International Federation of Agriculture (IFAJ), where he plans to highlight some of the same qualities he believes are vital to modern agricultural journalism. With IFAJ, Roberts will be exploring creating a certificate program in agricultural journalism and communications, where his vision is to have participants from all over the world and provide those who are engaged in the program with some global understanding. “This would allow students to get together, learn from each other and learn from experts we bring in from various countries,” Roberts explained. “There are a lot of countries in IFAJ that don’t have formal agricultural communications education, so this could give participants from these locations some academic credentials.” 

Some of the topics to be explored within the certificate will be ethics and the role of journalists as knowledge mobilizers. Roberts believes that ethics is of particular importance and has always been an issue among journalists because of external pressures and influences. “There needs to be a good dialogue to ensure that the role of ethics is clearly understood,” he explained, “that there isn’t undue influence being put on journalists and that there’s trust in journalism.” He also believes that the role of journalists as knowledge mobilizers is an important one to look at as well, as it is what the public or farmers are looking to journalists for, especially as the knowledge gets more technical and issues get more complex. “As expert marketer Alan Quarry told participants in a recent CFWF webinar, don’t be a content provider, be a context provider,” he says.

When asked about advice he would give to a young journalist or communicator, Owen said to work on and build their portfolio, find a ‘shtick’ that makes them stand out and know the difference between advocacy and information. “I’ve heard people say that if you’re not for agriculture, then you’re not part of the community, you’re not helping, and I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s a role for people who are writing news about the agricultural sector. Still, the agriculture sector has to realize, as does everybody, that news isn’t always good. And I think that’s a distinction that needs to be understood, not just by journalists but by the whole industry— journalists will not necessarily be advocates for agriculture and nor do you want them to be.”

Finally, Roberts points to CFWF as instrumental in his career and how beneficial its membership can be for young journalists just getting into the field. He emphasized that the “major players” in Canadian agricultural journalism and communications belong to CFWF and joining a professional organization to get contacts and become part of the culture is vital for developing a new writer’s career and enjoyment of agricultural journalism. Roberts further expressed his excitement for the future of the field and his hopes for its future growth. “If you’re interested in going into agricultural journalism, you’ve arrived at the right time,” he asserts, “Calling yourself an agricultural journalist is going to be more of an asset than ever.” 

With his new position at the University of Illinois in hand and an IFAJ program in the works, Owen is grateful for the current developments in the profession and the existing organizations like CFWF that will support the next generations young bright minds, “In journalism, reporting on agriculture has been kind of confined to a small group that is poised to get bigger…if people know about it. So making university students aware that there is a professional organization that they can connect with is a great idea.”

Coming up faster than you think! 

IFAJ 2023 Congress in Olds, Alberta

It’s still a way off yet, and a lot of post-COVID waters that have to be navigated, but it’s going to be a great event to mark down in your agenda now:

June 27 to July 3, 2023 in Olds, Alberta

Olds is less than an hour north of the Calgary International Airport and home to Olds College, one of Western Canada’s leading agricultural teaching and research institutions. The Congress will be held in the modern convention centre on the campus, and participants will be able to stay in either the campus hotel or the residence to ensure that the congress will be both interesting and affordable.

Olds College is centred in the heart of Alberta’s agriculture community, it’s going to be a great congress – stay tuned for more news soon!