As we stare into the face of a new millennium, The Western Producer has something to celebrate: 75 years of publishing.
Fifty-one issues per year, give or take a few due to labor situations of one sort or another. That’s 3,825 issues documenting prairie agriculture and western life.
Aug. 27, 1998 will officially mark the 75th anniversary of the Producer, and at that time we’ll bring you a special supplement documenting the changes wrought in farming and ranching since 1923. But to kick off our anniversary, with this issue we have a special section in the centre of this paper that documents some of the history behind the Producer itself.
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A compilation of red-letter days in agriculture and in Producer publishing history starts off the section, followed by an outline of some events planned this year. As well, you will find an account of the more amusing “bloopers” recalled by staff members, which readers, often gleefully, have brought to our attention.
Last year the Producer conducted a census of agriculture, compiled with input from thousands of readers, and some of those statistics are accompanied by graphics and an explanatory commentary by farm management editor D’Arce McMillan. The past is analyzed and the future predicted in an interview with publisher Allan Laughland, which appears along with the Producer mission statement and a more light-hearted account about the role the newspaper plays in many farmers’ lives.
To round out the section, you’ll find the smiling faces of all Western Producer staff members and information on the essay contest launched as part of our anniversary celebrations.
Elsewhere in the paper, editor Garry Fairbairn has provided editorial page space for the Producer’s code of ethics. On page 8 you will find the first of a year-long feature about Western Producer history.
Those with internet capabilities will find even more juicy information on our home page at www.producer.com. There you can discover that:
- The first editor-publisher of the newspaper, Harris Turner, was blind, having lost his sight in a mustard gas attack at Ypres in the First World War.
- One of the first news editors, Cyprienne Ann MacGregor, often wore rubber boots to the office, the better to allow for unplanned visits to farm sites in pursuit of news.
- Western Producer sales people have been known to accept chickens as payment for newspaper subscriptions, a practice that has been discontinued.
- The Producer insurance department once received a blackened, amputated thumbnail from a farmer as proof of his insurance claim.
We plan to have some fun with our anniversary celebrations and give our readers the
opportunity to enjoy it along with us.
As we look forward to the coming year, we wish our readers all the best in 1998.
