When I saw him working his booth the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show this summer, he looked right at home. Cole Thorpe was chatting with farmers and other agriculture folks about his company’s trendy Prairie Proud T-shirts, dozens of which were hanging on racks and displays around him, shirts extolling some of the essential […] Read more
Tag Archives AgriCULTURE column — page 2
Agricultural journalism should not be afraid of dirty shirts
The farmer was covered with credibility, wearing it like a dirty shirt. In fact, he was wearing a dirty, torn shirt. It had the dust, grime and rips of a work shirt and wasn’t the sort of thing you’d wear to a social occasion. That was something he noted as a photographer (me) shot pictures […] Read more
Farming amidst the myths of Canadian history
Most western Canadian farmers don’t have Indigenous farmers as neighbours. The world of the average farmer and the world of Indigenous people often seem like alternative universes that sometimes spark with friction at the contact points. Why is that? The most common understanding, one I’ve heard my whole life, and one that was commonplace all […] Read more
Vaccine or seeding: could be a tough choice this spring
One of the worst photography assignments at The Western Producer is being sent out to take photos of farmers seeding. It’s not the taking of pictures of farmers actually seeding that’s the problem. It’s getting them to stop for a moment, come out of the cab, and pose for a pic, while providing a handful […] Read more
Familiarizing non-farmers with agriculture a worthy goal
It’s getting tougher to be a farmer in a society that has fewer of them. For those of us who are in our second century of life, memories are still fresh of times when farms dotted the Prairies and for people in the cities, everybody had family back on the farm. The reality is very […] Read more
Seeding a welcome distraction from pandemic worries
Distraction can be a terrible thing, such as when operating machinery or driving. But there are times when distraction can be a blessing, especially if the distraction is away from woes and hardship and toward a happy, productive task. That’s what a lot of farm families are experiencing now, I think, as the busyness of […] Read more
Family lunches and coffee key to solo work at home
One thing I’ve always counted on: if you call a farmer’s home at noon, you’ll catch them at lunch. That appears to be true about 90 percent of the time, by my experience of 25 years. Why is that? Farmers work for themselves. They can set their own clocks. But most follow a rigid schedule. […] Read more
Many non-farmers remain connected to agriculture
How do you run a big farmer event without farmers? That’s what I was pondering — a compelling rural mystery — as I headed out to meet the volunteers getting ready for the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede. After 65 years, the reunion is operating in a prairie landscape that contains only about one-tenth of […] Read more
Corporate social media does not have to be boring
This column is the third in a series about Instagrammers who focus on prairie farming. The grain-handling business can seem dull and dusty. And in this era of Big Concrete, it can appear to lack history and grace, to operate and exist unmoored to tradition and grandeur. But that’s not how it seems if you […] Read more
Beauty of the Prairies shared with others on Instagram
Do you think the Prairies are beautiful, bold, filled with drama and almost allegorical in their starkness? Are you disappointed in the way non-prairie people, and prairie urbanites, often describe the western plains as dull, boring, something to be gotten through on the way to somewhere else? If so, you should check out the Instagram […] Read more
