Details settled for first meeting of Atlantic Canada Farm Writers' Assoc.

A tour of Prince Edward Island's Institute for Nutrisciences and Health and the Atlantic Vet College will highlight the inaugural meeting of a new regional professional farm and food writers' organization.

The Atlantic Farm Writers' Association will meet in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on June 4 at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre. The tours of NCI and the vet college will be held after a networking event and lunch. Reporters, editors, broadcasters focused on food and farming, as well as communication professional for agri-food business and government are invited -- everyone involved in telling the story of food and farming within industry and to the general public.

At the Institute for Nutrisciences and Health, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Dr. Chris Kirby and his research team will show how a state-of-the-art piece of equipment called a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer is changing the way scientists look at agriculture and its potential for human and animal health.

The Atlantic Veterinary College is one of five vet colleges in Canada. The farm service program contributes to the health and well-being of thousands more animals off-site at farms around the region. The college has 14 centres of expertise, like the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre, Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research, Atlantic Swine Research Partnership, Atlantic Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research and Maritime Quality Milk. The group will tour a portion of the facility.

Registration for the event, which includes a one year membership to the Atlantic Canada Farm Writers' Association (ACFWA), is $40. That also includes, among other benefits, membership to the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation (CFWF) and the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ), which will hold its next annual meeting in Ontario in September 2011. Both organizations, as well as ACFWA, are non-political, professional associations serving the common interests of those in the agriculture communications field.

A regional organization is an opportunity to link media and industry at a local level.

Island Farmer Editor Andy Walker of Prince Edward Island, Farm Credit Canada Express Editor and freelancer Allison Finnamore of New Brunswick, Farm Focus Editor Heather Jones of Nova Scotia and Wayne Riley of Prince Edward Island, Senior Atlantic Communications Advisor with AAFC will be on hand.

The meeting starts at 10:30 a.m. in Conference Room B at the AAFC Research Centre, 440 University Ave. Charlottetown, PEI.

For more information, visit our Facebook group, Atlantic Canada Farm Writers' Association or contact Allison Finnamore at 506-860-7761 or allison@finnamore.ca.

Atlantic Farm Writers plan inaugural meeting

Charlottetown, P.E.I. -- The inaugural meeting of a new regional farm and food writers' organization will be held June 4 at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

After a brief presentation about the organization and lunch, participants will head to tour local research facilities and farms on a learning and networking expedition.

Reporters, editors, broadcasters focused on farming and food, as well as communication professionals for agriculture and agri-food business, industry, associations and government are invited.

This new organization will be part of the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation (CFWF) and the International Federation of Agriculture Journalist (IFAJ). Both are non-political, professional associations serving the common interests of those in the agriculture field. A regional organization is a chance to link media and agriculture and agri-food industry communicators at a local level and provide professional development opportunities related to agriculture and food.

Island Farmer Editor Andy Walker, Farm Credit Canada Express Editor Allison Finnamore, Farm Focus Editor Heather Jones and Wayne Riley, Senior Atlantic Communications Advisor with AAFC are organizing this event.

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. Contact Allison Finnamore at 506-860-7761 or allison@finnamore.ca for details.

How to make love to your editor (figuratively speaking, of course)

(disclaimer: I have a great crew of writers and every week, I'm thankful that I have them as part of my team. What lies below are general comments and most certainly not directed at any of them. If I was referring to my writers, we'd be talking in person, not here.)


Early in my career, I met a few editors who made my life hell. They were mean. They were nasty. I think some even had green skin and horns.


Now 20 years into my career, I realize that those editors taught me rock solid, core journalism values. (And for the record, many more editors were patient. A special few were also a lot of fun to be around and were wonderful mentors).


Now that I've "crossed over" to the editor's side, I sometimes wonder if I may be growing my own set of horns.


Good freelance writers are hard to find so when we find you, we want to keep you. To keep our horns from growing, here's a Top 10 List of how to make love to your editor (figuratively speaking, of course):


10. File on time. Stuff happens, I know that. I have family and friends and pets too. Sources go on vacation, get tied up in meetings, don't return calls -- it happens. If you're working on an assignment for me and something comes up, let me know as soon as you can. Don't wait until deadline.


9. Check your facts. We're human and we all make mistakes, but it's your job as a journalist to get the facts and figures in your story right. Your reputation, my reputation and the publication's reputation is on the line.


8. Ask me for my style guide. If I don't have one, I'll let you know if there are specific rules for you to follow.


7. Stick to the word count. I only have so much space and I assigned you a specific word count for a reason. If I ask for 800 words, don’t file 873 words -- or 542 words. And if you do file a story that's 873, don't add a note like, "I've trimmed as much as I can, maybe you can do something more…"


6. Do suggest a sidebar. If you have some quick facts that can easily be made into a sidebar, I'm open to suggestions.


5. Every story should be your best story. I know some topics actually hurt when you're writing the story. I've written them too. But I've assigned this story to you because it's a topic I want to publish -- and you accepted. I expect your best work.


4. Check your spelling. 'Nuff said.


3. Follow up, but don't pester. Many editors get hundreds of email a day and, I'm sorry, but I sometimes lose your pitch. Check with me, I don't mind.


2. Tell me how to reach you. Add a signature on your email. You should do this anyways if you're a freelance writer, but if I have a question for you, I don't want to go sifting through business cards to find your phone number. And make sure you have voice mail.


1. Send a real pitch. Don't send me a three day conference agenda and ask if I'm interested in a story. Focus. Craft. Sell.

Farm Writers in Atlantic Canada

Have you ever had the experience of working with people who are so excited and enthused about a project that it rubs off on you? I love that feeling.

I had that experience earlier this week when I had a conference call meeting with three people from Atlantic Canada. Together, we're working to start a regional branch of our national farm writers' guild, the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation (CFWF).

Up front, I have to say that the desire to start our own group is in no way a reflection of the branch we currently belong to, the Eastern Canadian Farm Writers' Federation (ECFWA). The simple vastness of Canada and the geographic divide between the majority of our current ECFWA members means farm writers in Atlantic Canada feel disconnected.

Personally, the desire to gather together with some of our own is inspired by ECFWA, as well as CFWF and our international group, the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ). Once I experienced gatherings with like-minded individuals, I felt the aspiration to do it more often with those closer to me.

Not all farm writers in Atlantic Canada are onboard with the formation of a regional group. Some have said they want to maintain connections with former colleagues within ECFWA, while others may not be interested in the work involved in setting up a new organization (not that anyone has said that to me, I'm just speculating). I hope they'll reconsider.

The folks I met with earlier this week are keen and ready to get a local group formed. We're pooling our talents to host a day of farm and research centre tours on June 4.

Early in my career when I wrote for daily newspapers from rural New Brunswick, I kept hearing the untold stories of farmers and opted to help be one of their voices. From that, I found out about CFWF and that connection eventually led me to focus my career on agriculture writing.

Through CFWF, I've toured farms across the country, met agriculture experts and associates, gained writing and editing jobs and met hundreds of Canadian farmers. I've also met a lot of great people and developed some very good friendships.

Cumulatively, what the organizations have given me inspire me to help create like opportunities for farm writers in Atlantic Canada. I hope we'll create a network, come to count on each other and grow opportunities for ourselves.

Then together, we can help farmers tell their stories about the food they grow for us.

M-m-m-maple syrup
from Agriculture and AgriFood Canada

In the culinary imagination of the world, maple products are associated with Canada, the world’s leading producer and exporter of maple products since the early 20th century.

For Aboriginal peoples living in the Maple Belt, and for the settlers who followed, the trade and supplementary income generated by these products were important. To a degree, these products represent, both at home and abroad, the national identity and way of life of Canadians and are a symbol of the end of the Canadian winter.

There are more than 150 species of maple trees in the world, but only a few of the 13species native to North America produce sap that can be used to manufacture maple products.


In Canada, the six species with sap that is sweet enough to produce maple sugar and syrup are found in eight of the 10 provinces. However, only Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have enough sugar maples for a real maple industry. These trees offer a sap that is high in sucrose and produce the best yield of syrup through tapping. These four provinces are part of a larger maple region known as the Maple Belt, which also includes some parts of the north-eastern United States and the Midwest.

The Aboriginal peoples who inhabited this vast region before the arrival of the Europeans were very knowledgeable about maple sugar. They knew how to extract the sap in the spring and the products they made from the sap were used for trade. Later on, the colonists who came to settle in this region learned to boil down the maple sap into syrup and sugar and acquired a taste for it. This activity became a yearly ritual to mark the transition from winter to spring and it was a time of celebration for friends and families. Maple products were used for domestic consumption as well as trade.

Over the years, they have provided a significant off-farm income for family businesses, and, by the late 19th century, maple products had become a valuable export resource. During this time, however, the United States was the world’s leading producer of maple products, a position it maintained for several decades.