It is in times of crisis that good communication is needed most.
Mel McCrae of Baldwinton, Sask., found that out in May 2003, when his farm was found to contain the source herd of the cow that started the BSE crisis. During the discovery process and aftermath, which involved the slaughter of his herd, McCrae says he had little communication with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and with cattle lobby groups. Instead, he learned about various developments from the media.
His dismay and emotional pain about that situation were still evident last week when he addressed the Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference in Lloydminster, Alta.
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Likewise Bob Prestage of Canadian Livestock Services in Camrose, Alta., another conference speaker, confirmed that communication about the BSE situation was and is an issue. He hasn’t found Canadian or American government agencies to be forthcoming with information about the crisis in general and the future of export genetics in particular.
Talking about lack of communication to a group of communicators raised nary an eyebrow in a crowd used to digging for information.
In fact, Canada’s farm writers might know better than most the frequent challenges of eliciting information important to an industry that governments often seem willing to ignore. Agriculture is marginalized in the grand scheme of government machinations and urban media coverage, but it’s always front and centre in this newspaper and in others across the country.
An organization like the farm writers’ group, which is 50 years old this year, gives peer support to that effort.
The CFWF also offers an annual opportunity for members to have their work judged in competition and it is again my happy duty to communicate some of this newspaper’s success stories.
Barbara Duckworth of the Western Producer’s Calgary bureau
news was awarded gold in the press feature category for a story about the agricultural impact of massive British Columbia forest fires.
She also won gold in the feature photograph competition for a shot that captured Craig Flewelling’s look of joy after winning the supreme bull championship at Canadian Western Agribition last year.
Producer photographer Michael Raine won silver in the news photograph competition and bronze in the feature photo category.
News editor Terry Fries won bronze in the press editorial category.
These staffers do a pretty fair job of communicating some of agriculture’s truths and there is always more to tell.
