A group, a tour, a thirst

The lovely city of Calgary is pictured above, taken last week in between rain showers. It was home base for a recent tour organized by the Alberta Farm Writers Association, which I was privileged to attend. Farmers may be less surprised than urbanites to learn that there is such an organization, and there are also equivalent farm writers organizations in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba and eastern Canada. As well, there is a national group, the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, that meets annually for tours, professional development sessions and a pretty good party. This year, that party will be in Moose Jaw. Many Western Producer staffers are members of the provincial and national organizations.

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The Alberta writers group comprises a few full-time writers for ag publications but the greater number are in the public relations and government communications fields. This year the group toured Cattleland Feedyards and Fieldstone Winery near Strathmore, Sembiosys and Botanica in Calgary, the University of Calgary veterinary school and Moore and Co. vet clinic near Balzac.
We learned a lot of interesting stuff, some of which I recounted in my Western Producer column of June 10.
Further to that, here are photos of Dr. Eugene Janzen, assistant dean of clinical practice at the vet school, and student Kelsey Shacker, who told the group of the student experience and demonstrated some of the materials students regularly use.
The one fly in the ointment was Lee Hart of Farm Business Communications, who cleverly locked the refreshments in a compartment underneath the bus so no one could drink them. Lee’s fridge is probably pretty full as a result. That little dickens!