“History … celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns to speak of the plowed fields whereby we thrive; it knows the names of the king’s bastards, but cannot tell us the origin of wheat. That is the way of human folly.”
French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre said that. Jack Braidek, an editor and agrologist here at The Western Producer for many years, used Fabre’s words during a panel discussion at a recent Agricultural Institute of Canada meeting.
He said that although specialty agricultural publications and small town news media report on agriculture, big city media don’t.
Read Also
Topsy-turvy precipitation this year challenges crop predictions
Rainfall can vary dramatically over a short distance. Precipitation maps can’t catch all the deviations, but they do provide a broad perspective.
That is, not until there is a perceived conflict between the environment and farming or there are food shortages. Braidek said urban-based environmentalists have become public protectors of the food basket and are challenging the right of agriculture to manage the land base.
Recently, he noted, the Toronto Globe and Mail angered canola growers by running questionable information damaging the oilseed’s healthy reputation.
Not mentioned was that the canola piece was in a regular feature called The Middle Kingdom where readers ask questions and other readers answer them.
Anyone could respond to the original reader query. Environmentalists and health food devotees did. Food producers didn’t. The Globe and Mail isn’t available in most rural areas.
But farmers support organizations whose headquarters are in big cities where the Globe is easy to get. Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of these groups to monitor influential news sources and respond immediately when needed?
I suggest environmental and health food activists get so much ink because they make so much noise. It’s time for agriculture to become the squeaky wheel that gets the media’s attention.
