This is the first in a series of AgriCulture columns about farmers who use Instagram. When Toban Dyck took off for downtown Toronto in the late 2000s, he didn’t glance back at the southern Manitoba farm he was leaving behind. Now he can’t keep his eyes and cameras off of it. “When I moved away […] Read more
Tag Archives AgriCULTURE column — page 3
How do rural folk keep tabs on favourite teams?
Recently Will Groeneveld was checking his pea acres in north-central Alberta — and chatting about the upcoming World Cup of Soccer. He was chatting about it with me, by phone, as I sat in my minivan after getting an oil change. We met through ag Twitter and discovered our joint passion for English and World […] Read more
New sense of openness finds its way into farming culture
Farmers have gone soft, in the best possible way. With the continuing evolution of the western Canadian farmer, topics that were once considered awkward, unmanly, weak or part of the “woman’s department” now seem eagerly embraced by many male farmers. I’ve come to this conclusion after talking to a retiring farm safety expert, from speaking […] Read more
Cultural diversity comes alive at small-town event
My wife was pleasantly surprised to hear all the Spanish being spoken around the “Frog Follies” festival in St. Pierre Jolys a few weeks ago. There were also quite a few Africans. And as you should expect, lots of French and Low German being spoken. The French comes from the original settlers, with German from […] Read more
Uptake of booties on crop tours not urgent — yet
At a recent field day, I was walking around taking booty pictures. It struck some people as odd, but I never let that get in the way of important work. So I walked around the crop plots and if I saw interesting or odd booties, I bent over and documented the many varieties of footwear […] Read more
Urbanites are starting to view farmers in a new light
It’s been a long time since anybody has mentioned “dumb farmers” to me. Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve run into anybody I could imagine being described as a “dumb farmer.” I’m sure there are a few out there. Dumbness is part of the human condition and there are […] Read more
