One night, unfortunately in a dream, Eric Clapton and I were onstage somewhere, jamming 12-bar blues, Chicago-style. Of course, he was playing lead guitar. After a bit, he gave me the head nod universally understood by musicians...
Read MoreI appreciate the interest that’s being generated in this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ presidium election. The presidium, the four-person body entrusted with the day-to-day operations of the...
Read MoreWithout healthy soil, any discussion about feeding the world abruptly stops. True, there are other ways to get food — from rivers, lakes and oceans, for example — but for the most part, food comes from the soil, from the...
Read MoreAgriculture is changing, becoming increasingly diverse and environmentally conscious. These changes are reflected in two federal funding initiatives announced over the past week in disparate parts of the country (not ours),...
Read MoreTo say the horse-racing industry is up in arms about the planned removal of thousands of slot machines from race tracks is an understatement. It marks a huge change to the industry. For more than a decade, the provincial...
Read MoreAddressing hunger goes hand in hand with better food production and prosperity. People — including farmers — who are hungry or malnourished are less able to fight disease and infection. Farmers in underdeveloped countries...
Read MoreLately, area residents haven’t needed a long weekend or a camping experience to be close to black bears. Last week, in Milton and then later in Burlington, a 180-kilogram black bear was sighted and ultimately shot and killed...
Read MoreAs last year drew to a close, University of Guelph economics researchers Sylvain Charlebois and Francis Tapon were predicting the 2012 overall price increase in food would be about two per cent. However, Charlebois cautioned at...
Read MoreIf local food is so healthy, why don’t more hospitals serve it? And if we’re so concerned about food security, why aren’t we dedicating more resources to developing reliable, sustainable local food systems? ...
Read MoreWind energy has been called the most divisive issue ever in rural Ontario. I’m not sure that’s true, and it’s hard to quantify. But there’s no doubt wind energy — or more specifically, the turbines that turn wind into...
Read MoreOn Easter Sunday, my sister Wilma Caron pulled a rabbit out of her hat and turned about $1,000 cash into $8,000 worth of food — by donating the proceeds of her annual community Easter egg hunt to the Ontario Association of...
Read MoreI’m among that crowd of Canadians who feel they’re getting taken to the cleaners by Big Oil, while governments stand by and collect tax on inflated gas prices. Greed is the only reason that’s emerging after last week’s...
Read MoreEveryone wants the best for their kids, which has traditionally meant trying to steer them toward reliable jobs that keep them upwardly mobile or at least stable, and able to live within their means. I’m lucky my three kids...
Read MoreI tell my University of Guelph agricultural communications students that conflict drives the news. And having touched down in 2012, it’s pretty easy to find conflict in agriculture and food. Some of it simmers in social...
Read More
Owen Roberts is a faculty member in the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications program at the University of Illinois. As an agricultural journalist, he is the past president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists and a lifetime achievement award recipient from the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation. His programs and research papers have been recognized nationally and internationally through awards from the Journal of Applied Communications, the National Agri-Marketing Association, the Association for Communications Excellence, and others.