Reading Time: 3 minutes They don’t keep records on these sorts of things, but Allison and Mike Ammeter are likely the first Canadian farm couple to each chair a provincial crop commission. Allison became chair of Alberta Pulse Growers at the organization’s annual general meeting at FarmTech, six weeks after Mike became chair of the Alberta Barley Commission. The […] Read more
It’s a family affair: Two commission chairs in one household
Allison Ammeter is the new chair of Alberta Pulse Growers and her husband Mike fills the same role for the Alberta Barley Commission
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Reading Time: < 1 minute FarmTech is a feast of plenty and it’s impossible for one person — or even a small group — to take in everything. This year’s event features nearly three dozen presenters, four keynotes, eight concurrent sessions, and five producer group meetings in three jam-packed days. Of course, every attendee will not only have his or […] Read more
Don’t wing it — or refuse comment — if your farm makes the six o’clock news
Consultant and media trainer Grant Ainsley has some basic advice for dealing with the media
Reading Time: 2 minutes If the media ever shows up at your farm, treat them like you would a “big hungry dog,” says PR consultant and media trainer Grant Ainsley. “You have to feed it, or it will howl, bark and eventually bite,” he said. “You can’t always control what happens, but you can control your reaction.” The worst […] Read more
Only in the digital age — Alberta and Ukrainian cattle vets a YouTube sensation
A shared passion for veterinary medicine and YouTube has Albertan Cody Creelman helping a Ukrainian colleague in his bid to win a bovine ultrasound
Reading Time: 4 minutes It started with an online friendship between two cattle veterinarians, and blossomed into a worldwide, viral campaign. Even though he doesn’t speak a word of Ukrainian, Airdrie vet Cody Creelman, was drawn to the online videos of Vadim Pryadko, who lives in a town called Khmelnitsky near the Polish border. “We developed a relationship,” said […] Read more
A picture is worth 1,000 words — if it’s done right
Your best bet is an ‘idiot-proof camera,’ not a smartphone, when it comes to digital diagnosis
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most people use their smartphone cameras to share pictures of their kids, pets, or lunch. But those aren’t what is filling up Kelly Turkington’s inbox. “People are going out into the field with a smartphone, taking a picture, and emailing to ask for a diagnosis,” the federal research scientist said at a recent workshop in […] Read more
Dispelling the myth of Big Agriculture
Putting out the facts is farmers’ best way for discrediting their critics
Reading Time: 3 minutes What would you think if Big Oil or Big Tobacco said to you, “Just trust us!”? Are we guilty of the same thing in Big Agriculture? Do we even consider why they paint all of us that way even those we are just family farmers? So what if we use herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and even […] Read more
Alberta Farmer gets its 15 minutes of fame — and it was pretty weird
A story on critic of the Wheat Belly diet prompts online visits from anti-wheat proponents from around the world
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a weirdly wired world How is it that a small story in a rural Alberta farm paper is suddenly being viewed by people in Panama, Sweden, Lebanon and Croatia, and inundated by commentators who believe wheat is “a pathogen.” Here’s the story On Jan. 28, soft-spoken dietitian Christine Lowry stood before a couple of […] Read more
How to answer those tough agricultural questions from your urban neighbours
Farm advocate Cami Ryan says start by talking to family and friends, speak about your values as well as the facts, and tell a story
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ticked off by GM-free Cheerios and A&W trumpeting the beef in its burgers is hormone free? Then you’ll hate the Chipotle Scarecrow. The scarecrow is the hero in a Tim Burton-style animated video depicting a bleak smoke-spewing factory where caged cows are extruded into a “beef-ish” product and robots inject chickens with a green liquid […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
