Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Interest in farming is a great communications opportunity

The world’s food needs are under the microscope and we hear near-daily pleas from groups such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization for greater investment in feeding hungry people. So why are development agencies such as USC Canada dedicating scarce resources to hackneyed anti-corporate promotions such as this latest poll?

That’s what I’m pondering in this week’s Urban Cowboy column in the Guelph Mercury. The poll shows people want to know more about farmers and farming…so farmers need to use the opportunity to explain what they do, and why they use technology and research. Farmers have long lamented the urban media gets things wrong or doesn’t listen to them. But people learn by being taught. Farm community, it’s time to ramp up communications.

Views: 47

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by Roadrunner on October 31, 2009 at 4:06am
Good points...the challenge is that farmers only talk to a few consumers directly and the marketing resources are with the food companies and grocery chains.... We also grow corn, soys and wheat and most consumers don't relate with those crops... Big challenge in the future as the city kids are even more distant to the farmer and their food production.

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Export Gains Support Grains as Crypto Markets Retreat

The week of November 17 to 21 brought mixed commodity trends, changing export demand, and cautious investor behavior as markets prepared for month-end adjustments.

Stats Canada releases updated 2024 farm income data

Realized net farm income fell 26 per cent in 2024

USDA's November Crop Report was neutral to bearish vs expectations for corn

The 2025 U.S. corn crop remained historically very large with key revisions pointing to slightly lower production

Technology transforms traditional family farming

Farms today are rooted in tradition, with many working hard to keep generational operations alive. But technology has become essential to soil, seed and watering processes. Farmers are balancing two eras—remembering the iron and instinct of the past while embracing how technology is reshaping successful farming. Soda Springs farmer Dan Lakey describes his experience as two different farming careers. Growing up on the Lakey Farm in the 1980s and 1990s, he spent countless hours during his teenage years pulling a cultivator behind a 300-horsepower tractor. “I didn’t enjoy it much because all I knew was the hard work,” he said. After college and time in the corporate world, Lakey returned to the family farm and found how drastically equipment and the industry had changed. Larger planters and 600-horsepower tractors have revolutionized productivity and efficiency. What once took a full crew a week now takes two people a single day. GPS-guided tractors and combines with auto-steer capa

Deere forecasts little relief for U.S. farmers

Deere & Co., the world's largest farm-equipment manufacturer, sees another difficult year ahead for the U.S. farm economy. Why it matters: America's farmers have been in a two-year slump, squeezed by rising costs, falling crop prices, tariffs and a global trade war. Zoom in: Deere on Wednesday provided its first forecast for 2026, saying it expects its business selling to large-scale farms in the U.S. and Canada to fall 15% to 20%. Row-crop farmers — like those growing corn, soybeans, and wheat — continue to face headwinds, pressuring their short-term liquidity and causing them to continue to rely on older, used equipment, the company told investors. Deere is continuing to keep production tight for large equipment in response to low demand, noting that its inventory of big tractors ended the fiscal year at the lowest unit level in over 17 years. Zoom out: "Our organization is used to managing cyclicality. But this year, we faced an additional headwind of heightened uncertainty in a

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service