We think this Canadian student’s passion for farming and his willingness to talk openly to others is an inspiration. In the last few months, he has spoken to hundreds of students at a Woodstock-area high school about food and farming. Keep reading to hear Rudi’s story.
by Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate.
When Rudi Spruit attended a recent conference of the Junior Farmers’ Association of Ontario and saw a presentation about the misinformation consumers have about agriculture and food, he knew he wanted to do something to help spread the right information. “There are lots of misconceptions. Even teachers have some. I try to encourage others to learn,” says Spruit, a young farmer from Ontario.
What has evolved from an idea formed in March has turned into a 50 minute presentation made to various classes at Spruit’s school. So far, Spruit estimates he has presented to 300 students from his 850 student school. Spruit says there are a total of between 20 and 25 farmers attending the school.
Rudi and his classmate Drew give a presentation on farming to a class at their high school.
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Posted by FFC on June 6th, 2011 :: Filed under
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness,
Misconceptions,
Pigs,
Speaking out,
Urban MythsTags ::
Canada,
Consumers,
education,
Farmers,
misconceptions
by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
There is a lot of studying which goes into farming.
Many farmers today have a college diploma or university degree. Some even have graduate degrees. Even after school, though, farmers have to constantly update their knowledge to stay on top of the latest research findings and newest technology.
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Posted by FFC on April 12th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness,
Environmental Farm Plan,
Farm life,
Innovation and technologyTags ::
animal care,
environment,
farm tours,
Farmers,
technology
By Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
A great man in agricultural education was given a much-deserved recognition by the Ontario Farm Animal Council at its annual general meeting on April 5.
Fred Cahill, owner of the Texas Longhorn Ranch and known to countless people simply as “Cowboy Fred” has joined an elite group of agricultural enthusiasts who have received the “Friend of OFAC” award over the last 12 years.
Cowboy Fred talks to some young visitors at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair during a show in its education ring.
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Posted by FFC on April 6th, 2011 :: Filed under
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Education and public awareness,
Farm life,
HorsesTags ::
agriculture,
animals,
cattle,
Consumers,
education,
farm tours,
Farmers
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
The over-used term “factory farm” never seems to be defined. Many farmers and others who work in the agriculture business consider it an insulting term, much like a racial slur that shouldn’t be tolerated. Here is what one farmer thinks.
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Posted by FFC on March 23rd, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Education and public awareness,
Family vs factory farming,
Letters to the Editor,
Sustainability of the family farmTags ::
agriculture,
animals,
farm,
Farmers,
Housing,
Ontario
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
In recent years, the term ‘factory farm’ has been used with growing frequency in both conventional and online/social media to signify anything and everything that is seen as bad in livestock and poultry production. The term is almost exclusively used to criticize animal farming. You rarely hear it used to describe greenhouse tomatoes for example.
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Posted by FFC on March 17th, 2011 :: Filed under
Canada,
Consumers,
Education and public awareness,
Family vs factory farmingTags ::
agriculture,
Consumers,
Farmers,
Media
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
My teenager spends countless hours on Facebook and YouTube. Apparently she isn’t alone. YouTube has announced that its users have uploaded more than 13 million hours of video content to its servers in the last 12 months, resulting in more than 700 billion YouTube video views. I am sure my daughter has been a big contributor to those stats. But apparently so have farmers and ranchers.
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Posted by FFC on March 10th, 2011 :: Filed under
Consumers,
Education and public awareness,
Farm life,
Innovation and technologyTags ::
Consumers,
education,
farm tours
Vet tech turned pig farmer in the 2011 Faces of Farming calendar
By Patricia Grotenhuis
Pigs have captured the interest of Katherine Zurczak, a registered Veterinary Technician and city girl turned farmer.
Zurczak had her first encounter with pigs while studying to be a veterinary technician at Ridgetown College. She was quickly fascinated by her work with the animals, and after graduating in June of 2009, began working at Hog-Wild Farms Ltd. in Ontario.
The face of November in the 2011 calendar
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Posted by FFC on March 8th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Education and public awareness,
Faces of Farming,
Family vs factory farming,
Farm life,
Misconceptions,
Pigs,
PorkTags ::
agriculture,
animal care,
Farmers,
pigs,
Pork
For more than a decade now, there’s been a movement across Canada with a goal of empowering farmers to take a chance, Speak Up, and share their passion for farming with the public – most of whom have no direct connection with food or farming. And we’re happy to report that movement appears to be growing. We’re seeing farmers start blogs, tweet from their tractors, write letters to the editor on topics of importance to them and take a chance on doing more media interviews when we know that they’d much rather be working in their barns or in their fields. Michele Payn-Knoper of Indiana is a farmer and an agricultural advocate who works tireless to champion the farmers’ cause. We especially like this blog post, posted at www.causematters.com earlier this year and reprinted here with permission from her. Michele’s cited a number of the “excuses” she’s heard for farners not speaking up about agriculture – if you have any more, feel free to comment on the blog post below! – OFAC
The new year typically starts with motivational tips, hype about resolutions and pressure to make promises of how we’re going to do things differently. Not me. I’m bringing an entirely different perspective on advocacy – a highly sarcastic view on why we SHOULD NOT tell agriculture’s story. Several ag folks from across the U.S. and Canada added to the list on Twitter and Facebook – you’re welcome to post your own comment in the spirit of some fun.
Shhh, there’s no need to tell your story!
15. Agriculture has little economic contribution – and the American economy is thriving. After all, 80%+ of the economy isn’t reliant on the agrifood system – and surely your community doesn’t benefit from property taxes and jobs paid by farms.
14. “It’s embarrassing to have people thank you for producing their food. I don’t want people to think I am a corporate shill (every farmer who speaks out is one, right?) says sheep and daughter raiser Venessa in her own Spartan sarcasm.
13. “Who needs consumers anyway? I can still farm without people to buy my grain and animals that eat my grain. I like grain storage. Those big shiny bins are SO pretty and cheap…” was a heavily sarcastic comment from Sarah Bedgar Wilson, a young farmer in North Dakota (the cold made her do it, I’m sure).
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Posted by FFC on March 4th, 2011 :: Filed under
Consumers,
Education and public awareness,
Farm life,
HSUS,
Misconceptions,
Speaking out,
Uncategorized,
Urban MythsTags ::
activists,
Farmers,
HSUS,
Media,
misconceptions,
sustainability
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
Just as livestock munching predators, such as coyotes and bears, pose a serious threat to livestock, farmers are under attack by much smaller animals too: Rats and mice. I recently read a report by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs which estimates that a colony of 100 rats will eat more than a tonne of feed in a year. That much feed costs farmers about $285, or enough to feed four pigs to market weight. And the Ministry factsheet says one pair of rats and their offspring can produce 20 million (yes million) young in three years, mice reproduce even faster.
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Posted by FFC on March 2nd, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal health,
Education and public awareness,
Farm life,
Food safetyTags ::
agriculture,
animals,
education,
Farmers,
food safety
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Udders on bulls?
Barnyard is a cute movie, but one key part of the movie leaves me shaking my head. Not all cattle have udders. With small children at home, we seem to have a lot of farm-themed children’s books and movies, and my husband and I are surprised at how often the bulls or calves have udders in the pictures.
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Posted by FFC on January 14th, 2011 :: Filed under
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness
