|  It’s finally here.
The International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ) 2011 congress is now underway with several pre-congress events taking place in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Together with my colleague Owen Roberts (@theurbancowboy), I’m co-chairing this gathering of about 260 farm journalists from 30 countries around the world, which is taking place in Ontario this week. The last time Canada hosted this annual conference for agricultural writers was in 1967, so this is a big deal for us. Continue reading World’s farm journalists come to Canada I’m not usually one for shameless self-promotion, but in this instance, I can’t help but share some very good news. I was totally thrilled to learn this past weekend that I was the winner of not one but two writing awards at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation (CFWF) annual banquet on Saturday night. Continue reading Awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Two long-time Ontario agricultural journalists were honoured for their contributions to farm writing by the Eastern Canada Farm Writers’ Association (ECFWA) at its annual meeting last week. Glenn Powell and Jim Romahn became Life Members, a designation awarded by the ECFWA to agricultural journalists who have made outstanding contributions to agriculture, to the ECFWA, to the journalism profession and to their communities. Continue reading Ontario farm journalists honoured  There’s a new leader at the helm of the Eastern Canada Farm Writers’ Association (ECFWA). Clare Illingworth, a communications specialist with Syngenta Crop Protection, became president of the organization at its annual meeting this week.
Illingworth, who has served on the ECFWA board for several years, first as a director and most recently as Second Vice President, takes over from outgoing president Kelly Daynard, program manager with the Ontario Farm Animal Council. Continue reading Farm writers elect new president  Well, we’ve finally arrived in lovely Ostende, a city on the Belgian coast and our home base for the next few days. And we are among the lucky ones – it looks like about half of our IFAJ colleagues either never got off the ground or are stranded at airports in various parts of the world. Continue reading In a palace by the sea
I spent the day in Saskatoon today with reporters and editors from the Western Producer. Once a year, they all gather together for a staff conference – and today, I was on the agenda to do an introduction to social media. I am generally quite intrigued by the endless possibilities posed by social media, excited by the connections I have made and the things I have learned by using it and fascinated by how it continues to grow. Continue reading Using social media in agriculture  Canada is a land built on the foundations of agriculture and the hard work of generations of immigrants and farmers. These are the people who came to what was the “New World” to lay the groundwork for the life, culture and society we enjoy here today. Around the globe today, our country is admired as a producer of high quality food and as a leader in cutting edge agriculture.
Continue reading Experience new world agriculture in Canada
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