When Keith Smith is officially inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame this July, he should have no trouble fitting in, because the native of Oak Lake, Man., already knows most of the people in the elite club.
“It’s funny. There’s 120 people in the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame and I knew or had met 94 of them,” said Smith, who now resides in Qualicum Beach, B.C.
On April 6 the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame announced that Smith and Vernon McIntyre, from Elphinstone, Man., would be inducted into the hall in 2011.
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McIntyre, who died in 1994, was Manitoba Forage Seed Growers Association president and a director of the Canadian Seed Growers Association.
Smith’s daughter, Janet Smith, encouraged her dad to apply for the honour last year.
“I always witnessed the many ways in which he contributed to the success of the agricultural community, mostly the communications field and helping to promote agricultural practices,” said Janet, manager of the Manitoba Farm and Rural Support Services in Brandon.
Her dad’s career in agriculture began in the 1950s, when he took a job as a representative for Manitoba Agriculture in Holland, Man. The job he did, as an agriculture rep, really doesn’t exist anymore in Manitoba, Smith noted.
“There are hardly any of them left. Like farmers, they have specialized now, so the generalists in extension are few and far between,” said Smith, who turns 80 this year.
After a period in that role, Smith earned his master’s degree in ag extension in the U.S.
When he returned to the province, he resumed his career with Manitoba Agriculture but in a communications role. Beginning in the early 1960s, Smith and a team of communication specialists produced a daily radio program on agriculture techniques and practices.
“It was calledCountry Comment. We put it on five inch reels and sent it to stations in Manitoba and CJGX in Yorkton took it as well,” he said.
The five-minute spots featured interviews with farmers and information of a range of topics, from livestock husbandry to crop production and farm management.
Smith stayed in that role until 1979, when he became director of the agricultural extension centre in Brandon.
“I was kind of a one-man band…. My job was to work with farmers and (develop) a series of one or two day courses,” said Smith, who retired from that position and his career with Manitoba Agriculture in 1988.
“I found out, perhaps a little too late, that the best resourced people often were farmers. I started to use more and more farmers who would give testimonials about things that they had done.
“The opportunity to work with farm men and women… to work directly with real farmers; that was the most satisfying part of my career.”
Smith and McIntyre will be inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame July 21 in Portage la Prairie.
