The Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) has launched a new consumer-focused marketing strategy, titled “Life’s Simple Ingredients.” The main goal of this project is to help consumers understand where their food comes from, and to shed a positive light on wheat so they can feel good about what they are eating. Victoria Russell, interim communications manager for… Read more »
Category: Advocacy
The push to end supply management signals waning public support of farming
Over the last few months, the Conservative leadership contest has thrust a highly emotional issue for rural Canada into the spotlight— is supply management worth keeping or not? If you aren’t aware of the issue, one candidate, Maxime Bernier, is looking to eliminate the system. The rest of the field of candidates have said they… Read more »
Domino’s Pizza says it won’t be pushed around by animal activists
Farmers have gotten used to food companies bowing to the desires and demands of animal activists. It seems rare for a mainstream food company to stand behind the methods and practices of farmers and ranchers across the United States and Canada. Outside of McDonald’s Canada, the list seems quite short at times (and, yes, they’re moving… Read more »
Putting the squeeze on celebrity influence
How powerful is popular culture? It has tremendous influence on much of our daily lives, impacting everything from food choices and diets, to exercise, and what products we buy. Many of these choices our those we make to help our families lead healthy lives. Dr. Timothy Caulfield would like to like to see governments, regulators,… Read more »
Is Glyphosate the Next Honeybee?
When I’m knee-deep (ankle, for most of you) in discussions about challenges in agriculture, I often ask, “What’s the next bee?” I’m used to the funny looks I get, but what I mean, once I clarify, is what is the next issue in agriculture that will be debated and perhaps regulated not necessarily on the… Read more »
Overcoming Skewed Perceptions of Risk In What We Eat and Drink — Kevin Folta
88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes every year in the United States. Nobody has ever died because an ingredient in the food or drink they consumed was genetically modified. Call it ironic, distracting, or deceptive, marketers are all too aware we have a skewed perception of risk, especially when it comes to the stuff we… Read more »
Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan Seeks its Next Champion
Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan (FFC SK) has opened nominations for its Food & Farming Champion Award. This award, now in its second year, was designed to “shine a light on the people who work hard to promote Saskatchewan agriculture and help farmers build public trust in our food industry.” “We had tremendous success with the… Read more »
Did You Really Just Say That? Trish Jordan Talks Consumer Connections
Bridging the gap between the farm gate and the dinner plate is a goal agriculture industry members continue to chase and attempt to close. One of the challenges in establishing real communication is that our consumers are a diverse bunch and the there are many players in the value chain all relaying their own message with… Read more »
McDonald’s Canada Celebrates Women in Farming to Raise Money for Young Farmers
Today marks International Women’s Day, and McDonald’s Canada is marking the occasion with a new commercial celebrating the farm women who play a role in bringing home the beef in Canadian agriculture. In the commercial, you’ll likely recognize Alberta’s Jill Harvie (@BrightPasture) from a previous McDonald’s commercial, and also featured for this Old MacDonald-themed sing-a-long is… Read more »
Toronto Star Looking for Farming and Food Stories
It almost sounds too good to be true, with farmers often feeling the general public is uninformed and uninterested in agriculture, but urban media outlets are realizing stories about farming and food resonate with their audiences. Whether it’s the ‘wow’ factor, interesting personal stories, great visuals, or top-of-mind topics related to our own health or the environment, agriculture has plenty… Read more »
Ag Literacy Week Expands to Full Month of March
A week just wasn’t long enough… Six years after the launch of Canadian Agriculture Literacy Week, the program has been expanded to Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month for the month of March 2017. Agriculture in the Classroom – Canada (AITC) and its partners will be delivering agriculture programming to over 800 classrooms and 30,000 students across… Read more »
A Map to the (Grain Farmer) Stars
Grain Farmers of Ontario recently launched a new, virtual “meet your farmer” through its Good in Every Grain initiative. Building off of last year’s start on farmer profiles, 2017 marks a year-long foray into meet and greets with 52 Weeks of Your Farmers:www.GoodinEveryGrain.ca/YourFarmers. Each week, a new Ontario grain farmer is profiled on the site. The profiles include… Read more »
150 Millennials “Meet in the Middle” to Celebrate Canadian Agriculture
The inaugural “Canada’s Agriculture Day” is slated for Thursday, with celebrations of Canadian agriculture planned in communities across the country. In Alberta, organizers of an event called “Meet in the Middle” are bringing together 150 millennials for a five-course meal and conversation about food in the Willow Lane Barn near Olds. As Terry Andryo, ATB Financial’s senior… Read more »
BayKomm Shows Us How Science Can Be Cool
Shaun Haney is in Germany this week as a guest of Bayer, celebrating 20 years of the company’s Invigor brand. This morning, I visited the BayKomm site in Leverkusen, Germany. The beautiful glass building holds not only some historical pieces from Bayer’s past but also a connection to the difference science makes on our daily… Read more »
Farm Tours Get Outside the Agriculture Echo Chamber
Call it farm show-and-tell or a really great way to make new farming friends, but Andrew Campbell is almost two months into his 52 Farms in 52 Weeks tour, and the project, so far, is going very well. Campbell, the @FreshAirFarmer, sat down with RealAgriculture’s resident hand-talker Lyndsey Smith to talk about the tour stops… Read more »