You might have noticed a new name in your Western Producer last week, opposite this column, on page 10, where Katelyn Duncan’s column is today. Manitoba farmer and opinion writer Toban Dyck has joined us as a columnist.
I very happy to have him with us, as he brings both experience as a farm commentator and as a producer to the role. Like Duncan, Dyck’s thoughts about agriculture are developed from lives spent in the industry, but also considering how farmers and the industry fit into a wider world.
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Great agronomy, intelligent use of technology and solid accounting practices aren’t worth much if the industry fails to negotiate its place in the wider society. We are, after all, only a couple of percentage points of those who vote in this country and all farmers, at best, three or four of the consuming public in the western world.
Understanding of what it is that we do, and of how the world sees farmers and agriculture becomes more critical as time marches on. Measured in generations, time has been the enemy of understanding when it comes to agriculture. Not so long ago, Canadians were one generation removed from having a family member on a farm.
It’s two generations, or more for many of our fellow citizens now. Their abilities to identify with us no longer come from a people they know and trust or even speak with every day. Most have never been to a farm and in their minds’ eyes ideally see something with a red barn in it.
Some of Dyck’s experience in commentating comes from writing columns for the Financial Post and for Maclean’s magazine. Those tend to bring the farmer to the masses. These help demystify the industry in which we live. Duncan too writes for an urban audience some of the time with a column in the Regina’s Leader Post.
Those bridges are important, as any time an informed voice enters into editorial-trust relationships with the rest of society, agriculture wins.
Dyck also writes a regular column in another Glacier FarmMedia publication, Grainews. Those columns began as he returned to the farm a number of years ago and explored the role of a younger producer entering the family business and a life on the rural Prairies.
We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Toban join us in these pages, on producer.com and in our sibling brands at Glacier FarmMedia, both online and off.
