We are still working with the federal government on the Livestock Tax Deferral Program for producers. Our first step was to have them acknowledge the importance of the program and its effectiveness in providing relief for producers in the April budget. Now, it’s time to expedite and roll out the program, which is a crucial tool for producers in times of natural disasters such as drought or floods. 

This is one risk management tool we can have as producers to help ease our minds in the coming months. We will keep everyone informed of our progress on this front. Also on the advocacy front, CCA has requested a change to the Income Tax Act to include all classes of cattle and to allow producers to self-elect when they need to use the deferral. As I explain below, the opportunity for Canadian beef is great. Our herd is limited to what weather allows for feed production. The improvements to the tax deferral program are about an improved time of turnaround in herd size as weather and other conditions allow. 

Prices have been strong this spring and demand for our quality Canadian beef continues to grow at home and abroad. In April, CCA and Canada Beef representatives participated in a trade mission to South Korea where we learned that the demand for our beef is at an all-time high. We are working with our federal government to reduce Canadian tariff rates — which are currently 16 per cent — to match the U.S. tariff rates at eight per cent. This will level the playing field with our neighbours and open markets. 

I was in Mexico in May to attend the Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas’ (CNOG) annual meeting, as well as trilateral meetings. Keeping the flow of healthy herds was the primary focus at these meetings and producers from all countries involved are on the same page when it comes to working together. It’s sometimes the regulators that impede progress, but we are committed to working with them to ensure our producers keep all market options open. 

On behalf of CCA and producers, I signed a united statement with the National Cattlemen’s (NCBA) president Mark Eisele and CNOG president Sr. Homero García de la Llata. The signed statement is available on CCA’s website (opens as PDF). It outlines how we encourage our respective governments to continue working together to combat devastating foreign animal diseases, to promote sustainable global trade that encourages efficient production practices, and to ensure science-based food safety and marketing regulations of emerging food technologies such as lab-grown proteins.

We have a busy summer coming up with the Calgary Stampede, federal-provincial meetings in the Yukon and NCBA meetings in the U.S. Protecting our herds, expanding our markets and improving your bottom line are our goals in all CCA’s activities. 

We have been working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to provide updates on the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in the U.S. and the border testing requirements they implemented at the end of April for lactating dairy cattle. At the time of writing this, there have been no beef cattle affected in the U.S. or Canada — but we all know how important biosecurity and safety measures are and our message to producers is to continue to be vigilant and to watch for signs and symptoms of the virus and practice preventative measures. CCA has biosecurity advice for producers on its website at cattle.ca. 

On the environmental front, we want to congratulate our provincial participants in the Environmental Stewardship Awards. As we all know, beef cattle producers play a huge role in protecting and enhancing our environment. 

Special congratulations to the Hyatt family at Circle H Farms from Devlin, Ontario, the Association of Manitoba Community Pastures, and John Duynisveld and his daughter Maria at Holdanca Farms in Nova Scotia. 

We commend you and all other nominees for the work and effort you put into continuously striving to improve your existing stewardship practices, setting our industry up for a sustainable future. Other provincial winners will be announced soon with our national winner announced in August at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference.

On behalf of our CCA board and staff, we wish you a healthy, successful and smooth summer.

The post Foreign animal disease, food safety and trade top Canadian Cattle Association’s agenda at Mexico meetings appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Flinton has accomplished a lot, including obtaining an ag business degree while on a hockey scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan, followed by spending several years as a firefighter. 

Today, Flinton works as a food systems program manager for Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation. It’s a role that puts her interest and experience in sustainable agriculture to work alongside Indigenous communities.  

“I want to work in agriculture — that is definitely my passion — and I want to work in tandem with First Nations,” she says, adding that her husband and daughter are part of the Williams Lake First Nation. “It’s a topic that’s very near and dear to my heart. It’s both sides of the coin in terms of ranching. And my family is Indigenous, and I want to better my relationship between the two.”

Flinton is enthusiastic about the beef cattle sector, which prompted her to successfully apply to the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) mentorship program. 

She has also stepped up to be a leader on her own terms by establishing the Williams Lake First Nation 4-H Club. 

Growth through mentorship

Flinton, who recently graduated from the CYL program at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference (CBIC) in Penticton, B.C., says being selected for the program was a game changer.

“I knew I wanted to get more involved in the beef industry and wasn’t sure what that would look like,” says Flinton, who is a third-generation beef producer and considers herself a small-scale rancher. 

She found the program welcoming to all types of beef industry stakeholders, regardless of whether participants came from large operations or even whether they had cattle at all. 

Flinton says she didn’t expect to be a finalist, but when she was accepted to the program, she knew she wanted to put everything she had into it and proceed with an open mind.

“I talked to a few people in the area who had gone through (CYL) and the feedback was that you get out what you put in,” says Flinton. “A lot of it depends on who you’re paired with and being committed to the focus point — but being willing to adapt your focus point if you need to, depending on what’s happening in your life.”

Flinton indeed dealt with unexpected life events when her father-in-law passed away suddenly in the spring. The sad time both strengthened her resolve and made her evaluate what really mattered, which was being present for her family.

“Having those people there in your life, you cherish it more, you don’t take anything for granted,” she says.

“(CYL) could have fallen off the boat at that point but I had a really great support system,” she says. “Both my husband and my family and his family supported me and said ‘No, you need to keep doing this.’”

Flinton felt fortunate to be paired with Judy Guichon, a Nicola Valley rancher and beef industry leader, as well as B.C.’s former lieutenant-governor. 

“Judy was amazing and is such an asset for the beef industry and just as an individual,” says Flinton. “She’s a salt-of-the-earth lady who has done some amazing things in her life.”

One of Flinton’s mentorship highlights was touring Guichon’s ranch. “I told her I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity, but she welcomed me saying, ‘I’m just the neighbour.’”

In addition to meeting with Guichon at her farm, Flinton also attended the Canadian Cattle Association AGM in Ottawa, a CYL forum in Calgary and the CBIC. 

She says networking with industry peers was validating. “To meet people that are your age, that are in a similar situation — that are the same with young families and trying to get into the sector and from all sizes and aspects — was eye-opening, in a good way.”

Leading by example

Three years ago, Flinton was approached about starting a local 4-H club. Having been a club member for 12 years, Flinton was interested. However, she also had a new infant and was apprehensive of the commitment at first.

“I thought about it for a long time,” she says. There was one other First Nations club in the region that Flinton could picture her daughter and stepson joining. With the encouragement and support of that nearby leader, she dived in and hasn’t looked back.

“The 4-H club is my heart and pride and joy for sure,” she says. “My goal was to be accessible to all First Nations kids that potentially wanted to do 4-H in the area, no matter what their financial or infrastructure situation might have been.

“We had an interest meeting in November of 2020 and I had the bare minimum — six kids from the Sugar Cane Reserve within Williams Lake First Nation,” she recalls. “By February, I had 20 kids and it was a successful first year.” 

The Williams Lake First Nation 4-H Club just completed its second year with 30 members and 20 beef projects. “Out of the 30 kids, there were 26 of First Nations or Metis descent.”

The club offers beef, sheep and swine projects. “Having a few different projects makes it easier for kids to try something new and different and build their confidence,” she says.

“Our community is amazing in supporting this as a whole, and the band is supportive and has helped us out both financially and with amenities here.”

The Williams Lake First Nation has set up an area on their 150 Mile ranch location with pen space and infrastructure, which helps make 4-H a possibility for kids who otherwise may not have the option of participating. 

“For kids that live on reserve, that might not have the space or the pens for whatever the project, they can keep their animal at the ranch in a cohort situation,” she says, while the kids tend to daily chores at the site.

“We are also making sure that the kids are acknowledging the financial aspect of things. After the first year, within reason, depending on what your project is, you have to help pay for feed and hay and teaching that aspect of things has been really beneficial.”

One of the challenges Flinton has found as a leader has been to step back and take a look at things from a different perspective. 

“I took for granted my upbringing in the livestock sector, not even realizing what comes second nature to me doesn’t come second nature to everyone,” she says. “Things like approaching an animal like a steer that’s bigger and can kick, making sure kids are situationally aware of where they are.

“I didn’t even know how to teach that stuff, so that has been good for me to go back to the basics and take into account every child’s stage of where they might be at in terms of animals,” she says.

With everyone learning new skills, Flinton has had to adapt her delivery style. “Some kids you can give them the tough love or have the harsh conversation, but for some kids, that’s not going to work, so it’s been good for me to dial into different kids and be involved.” 

The way forward

Flinton sees agriculture and First Nation collaboration as the key to finding common ground.

“I think in terms of the ranching community and the First Nations community, everything is so intertwined and everything is very involved in the other,” she says.

“Everyone is side-by-side. Whether you are from a generational ranch or a First Nations community, you’ve been neighbours for a long time, and I think being able to have safe and healthy conversations is really important.”

She adds that when the going gets tough, people come together. “There’s nothing like a natural disaster to put all the heady issues behind you and move forward,” Flinton says. 

“In the 2017 forest fires, I was on an all-First-Nations crew fighting fire and you could definitely tell the respect and communities that were brought together that may have not been brought together before.

“Building the relationships back and the respect and trust back between groups is really important. So that’s what I’m trying to learn about and hopefully one day I can encourage and facilitate respectful and healthy conversations and help the two sides build back the trust and respect.”

The post Mentorship, leadership and inclusivity go hand-in-hand appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

“Publicly funded research scientists have an obligation to share their knowledge and research results in simple terms to the general public,” says McAllister. Doing so allows people to make informed decisions, rather than relying on information that may be biased or inaccurate, he adds. 

“If agricultural scientists don’t step up and present their knowledge then we are at the risk of extremists dominating the information flow. 

“Our podcasts are designed to target the consumer,” says Stanford. “We are not defending the Canadian cattle and meat industry, but we want to present a balanced approach for the consumer to make informed decisions. We discuss the claims that animal agriculture is the leading cause of negative impacts on global warming, water depletion, deforestation and species extinction, as often presented in the press.” 

On each of the 30-minute podcasts, the co-host interviews leading world scientists and experts in various fields. Cows on the Planet presents the science and history on the issue or topic and Stanford and McAllister don’t hold back on inaccurate or biased science that has previously been presented to the public. 

At time of writing in March, the team had presented about half of their 36 podcasts with approximately 5,000 downloads from 20 different countries. Listeners hail from every continent, except Antarctica, says McAllister. 

“While we emphasize the facts, we also try to keep it light, so we are looking forward to our first penguin listener from Antarctica,” says McAllister. “We are relying a lot on social media platforms of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get our message to consumers. We have had coverage by several agricultural publications, but it has been very difficult to spread the word in the popular press in the big cities. Seems to be a struggle to get them to pay attention. I think many take their beef for granted and are happy to focus on topics that they think are more important. 

“We have had interviews with most of the animal science-related departments in Canada and we continue to reach out to them. In some cases, we are talking to the converted, but hopefully, listeners will act as ambassadors to spread the word about our podcasts to their city friends.” 

The Cows on the Planet podcast can be found by simply searching the internet or podcast player apps.

The post Cows on the Planet aims to inform public about beef production appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Sparrow’s passion for the beef industry is rooted in her experience on her family ranch, Tee Two Land and Cattle at Kelliher, Sask. She earned an animal science degree from the University of Saskatchewan and is currently working alongside her parents and brother on their mixed operation. She is also involved in the Saskatchewan Forage Council and is passionate about nurturing a sustainable environment while producing high-quality beef.

Holly and her husband Devin Sparrow married in February and now live near Vanscoy, Sask. They are excited about their future and their opportunities with beef cattle and grain farming. The couple has a small cow herd of their own.

Devin works full-time with his father on their family’s mixed operation, VJS Ag Corp. Sparrow travels between Kelliher and Vanscoy, a three-hour drive between the two places.

Since September 2020, Holly’s also been an assistant provincial co-ordinator with Saskatchewan’s Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+), and recently started covering a maternity leave as an audit co-ordinator with the national program. The job allows her to work from home as she fields producer inquiries about the program, facilitates informative webinars about the voluntary program, helps producers move towards certification and sends them information about programs linked to VBP+.

The program validates the protocols ranchers have implemented around bio-security, animal care, environmental stewardship and food safety.

“Most beef operation practices already meet these requirements, but this third-party on-farm audit validates the industry standards.”

Crops and cattle

The Thompson family ranch, Tee Two Land and Cattle, is a mixed cattle/farming operation that includes Sparrow’s grandparents, who bought the first quarter-section in 1951.

“My parents joined the operation in 1989. Today more of the family is involved — my parents and my oldest brother Cole are full-time on the operation, and I’m there part-time. During the busy seasons like calving, weaning, harvest, silaging, etc., I am there full-time.”

Sparrow’s youngest brother, Adam, also recently joined the operation after finishing his agriculture degree through Olds College. The family also has three full-time employees. “We have a really great crew,” says Sparrow.

“I’ve been fortunate to have the life that I do, thanks to my grandparents and parents’ work ethic, and their passion for the land and animals. These role models have continually shown me the quality of life in this industry and that it is always worth advocating for. Being able to ranch so closely with my family has been a real blessing.”

Tee Two Land and Cattle comprises 9,500 acres, with half of it in crop production and the other half grass and silage. They run about 1,200 mother cows, plus a backgrounding lot and a small finishing lot. The cow herd is crossbred with an Angus base.

“I learned from my dad that the goal is not achieving the highest weaning weight just to hit a high market price. We focus on the bigger picture, measuring our net profit per acre. We want our cattle to be good roughage converters, able to utilize what our farm grows as a mixed operation. They graze the crop residues and forages and have a very symbiotic relationship with our land.”

As an example, during harvest, the chaff wagons are pulled around to strategically drop crop residue piles to stockpile for winter feed in pastures where cattle are moved around.

“We haul a TMR supplement to those chaff piles, and this enables us to utilize our cropland byproduct with the cattle and have them convert low-quality roughage into nutrient-dense, high-quality beef.”

By strategically placing the piles in places such as hilltops or other low-production areas, they can best use the fertilizer the cattle add to the land. Crops and cattle make a good mix, and she feels that any grain farm can have an opportunity to incorporate cattle, if they truly want to, and can address the capabilities of buying feed or growing it.

“A farmer who decides to incorporate cattle has opportunity to optimize their land through more than one harvest season. However, there are always challenges to be addressed with different land and soil types, such as land location and access to water and shelter. I try to think how we can make this work and what barriers are we facing.”

Some grain farmers can benefit by working with a neighbour and do some exchanges that work well for both of them.

“It’s definitely a win-win when you can work with a neighbour. The cattle producer can feed cattle on someone else’s resources, and that neighbour can have the cattle impact, which adds fertility to the soil, and extra revenue from renting out the land during a non-harvesting window.”

Her husband’s family farm is also a mixed operation of grain and cattle. “There are many opportunities to figure out how to use our own cattle to utilize some of the cropland. Although both farms are in Saskatchewan, the land is quite different. Tee Two is in pothole country with water sources everywhere. This makes dividing pastures easier.”

Sparrow’s work with VBP+ is opening her eyes to the programs available to producers to address some of the challenges facing their operations.

“Every operation is unique, and there is no instruction book to tell us step-by-step how to get through some of these difficult scenarios. If we think outside the box about our own operations and what resources we have available, there is opportunity to build a successful operation.”

From the Prairies to Parliament Hill

Growing up on the ranch helped build deep roots in the cattle industry, and being able to work on a mixed operation at home gave her experience and a passion for cattle.

“I gained a huge respect for the beef industry and decided to go into it deeper. I knew I wanted to have a career in the beef industry and be a part of it.”

After graduation, she became the Saskatchewan rep for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Young Cattlemen’s Council (YCC). “This has been a great learning experience. I jumped into it, not really knowing what it was all about, but I am glad that I did.”

Sparrow served as president of the YCC for two years, and is currently the past president. Her time on the committee allowed her to connect with people from across Canada.

“I’ve been able to lobby on Parliament Hill and discuss pressing issues with our own and other industries. I’ve also been able to advocate for young producers across Canada.”

Although YCC pushed her outside her comfort zone at times, she learned and enjoyed being part of the industry committees more than she’d expected. Sparrow says that the beef industry is pleased to see young voices coming on board and has been good at encouraging participation from the YCC.

“The value a person gets from these (committees) outweighs any uncomfortable moments. Our industry is very welcoming and the people within it have similar end goals and are open to discussions.”

Sparrow sees both challenges and opportunities for young people in this industry. Land prices are high and there’s plenty of competition, especially for those close to a city.

“It’s difficult to build enough operating capital, and costly to enter this industry. It comes with a lot of risk. Having things like business risk management programs available to young producers is an important tool.”

Connecting with other people can also be challenging for people in the industry.

“I know that many ranchers say they are happiest when they are out with their cows, but it is very important to have connections with other folks in the industry. This is helpful not only from a learning standpoint but also for friendship.

“In rural areas, especially today with COVID, some people feel alone. They need to be encouraged to reach out and push themselves out of their comfort zones and join these wonderful groups. Sometimes knowing where to start or how to get involved can be a challenge for young producers.”

Some of the opportunities she sees for young people include the potential for many satisfying careers. “The beef industry has many opportunities, and getting involved is just a step closer to that great career path, and the high quality of life we know that we can have.”

Anyone interested in learning more about YCC or becoming involved in other programs can contact Sparrow via email at Holly_Thompson@live.com.

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Fawn Jackson knows firsthand the power of mentorship in helping youth in agriculture succeed. She speaks warmly of the people who made a difference along her career path, and she’s an advocate for taking advantage of opportunities to learn from others at every stage of the game.

“For me, mentorship has been such a key part of my success in the beef industry,” says Jackson, who is the director of policy and international relations for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), based in Ottawa.

“You might have a couple of really formal mentorships in your life, but I think that it’s those informal mentorships that are just as important to invest your time in.”

For Jackson, mentorship began at home with the support of her family. She was raised on her family’s purebred cow-calf operation, High Bluff Stock Farm, at Inglis, Manitoba. She is one of five daughters, and two of her sisters currently farm with her parents.

“Growing up in an agriculture community, it was just so encouraging, and they push you forward to achieve your best,” she says. “My mom and dad and sisters are at the forefront. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am without them.”

Early on, Jackson was interested in studying politics. The opportunity to study for two years at Pearson College UWC, a renowned international high school on Vancouver Island, helped her realize that her background in agriculture had a major role to play in her future, too. At the time she attended Pearson College, there were 200 students from 100 different countries studying.

“A lot of them didn’t know about agriculture, and to me, I had always grown up around agriculture and people who appreciated it,” she says. “It was really there that I realized just how special of an experience I’d had growing up on a farm and just how passionate I was about it.”

That realization led Jackson to the University of Alberta, where she completed a degree in natural resource and agricultural economics. Her post-secondary experience was very positive, and she credits the faculty and staff for helping fuel her passion for working in agriculture and raise her confidence to tackle the next challenges on her journey. She characterizes the support she found there as a “great kickstarter” to her career.

Jackson went on to obtain a master’s degree in international agriculture and development at Oklahoma State University. After graduate school, she began working for CCA as a policy analyst, combining her deep interest in both agriculture and politics. “Working at CCA is this wonderful merging of the two,” she says.

This first position with CCA allowed her to begin working with its executive, including Dennis Laycraft, CCA’s executive director. The opportunity to work closely with Laycraft and John Masswohl, former director of policy and international relations, was extremely valuable.

“Dennis Laycraft and John Masswohl have been absolutely instrumental in that transfer of all of the knowledge that they have,” she says. As part of this role, she also ran the first official year of the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders mentorship program, allowing her to meet many people within the industry.

Jackson then moved into the role of environment manager, which aligned with her passion and appreciation for Canada’s grasslands, something that has played a major role in her work. After a few years, she became the first executive director for the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), leading this forward-thinking stakeholder organization in the creation of a groundbreaking sustainable beef certification program.

Jackson is thankful for the mentorship she received from the environmental community in general during her time in these roles. “When I first started meeting with the environmental community, I was perhaps a little bit nervous about what we were going to find in common and where we were going to find areas that we could work together on, and we really did,” she recalls.

“That’s where the creation of, I would say, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef really stemmed from, and I think Lorne Finch and Barry Adams (of Cows and Fish), whether they knew it or not, were absolutely my inspiration to pull from to try and tackle that collaboration that came through the CRSB.”

She also had the opportunity to work with rancher Cherie Copithorne-Barnes, who served as the CRSB’s first chair and was another mentor to Jackson. “She is just such an inspiration as a human but also in her drive to bring all the different stakeholders together.”

A voice for the beef industry

Jackson’s experience in her earliest days at CCA set her up well for future responsibilities in the organization, including her present role. “It’s been this really lovely transition through and growth through CCA, and I can sincerely say I’ve loved every minute of it.”

She moved to Ottawa two years ago to lead CCA’s Ottawa team in communicating policies on behalf of beef producers to officials at the federal level.

“We of course set our priorities and our policies at our AGM and semi-annual,” she says. “Then it’s about communicating that to decision-makers and making sure that cattle producers are top of mind when they’re thinking about the environment or they’re thinking about trade or… all the different policy files that impact cattle producers.”

As well as communicating CCA’s priorities to federal officials, Jackson sits on the association’s foreign trade committee, and she has spoken on behalf of the Canadian beef industry in several recent trade negotiations, including the new NAFTA agreement.

“Representing the opinions of cattle producers in Ottawa as well as globally, I think has also become even more important as of late, especially on the environment file, where perhaps the Canadian context of cattle production on grasslands isn’t as appreciated for the amazing environmental stewardship that goes along with it.”

Becoming more engaged in advocating for Canada’s endangered grasslands, as well as the role of beef production in conserving these ecosystems, is something Jackson feels strongly about.

“I think today we certainly know that we can’t take for granted that people understand that role that beef production plays in the agriculture ecosystem,” she says. “So we’re getting more and more vocal about it and making sure that we’re able also to protect those lands, and by protect them I certainly mean keeping them in beef production.”

For Jackson, fully communicating this to Canadians includes highlighting the other positive ecosystem benefits related to beef production, such as wetland retention and increased biodiversity. “I think that there’s a lot of multiplying benefits to having a really robust beef industry that perhaps wasn’t as appreciated previously as we’re certainly trying to make it today.”

One ecosystem benefit that she’s particularly interested in is the role of grazing in fire control. “We’ve seen some really amazing examples out of British Columbia where beef cows have been utilized as a management tool alongside forestry companies to help protect communities from fire.”

“I think we’re really just getting started in how to collaboratively work more effectively together in some of these challenges that have come forward for society.”

Post-pandemic opportunity

Jackson sees great promise in the role of agriculture in Canada’s post-pandemic economic recovery. “I think that there’s just going to be even more excitement for people to come and join the agriculture workforce, for governments to invest in it, for international trading partners to want to secure really strong trading partners such as Canada. So for me, I think that there’s just a ton of opportunity on the horizon.”

An area of opportunity that she’s particularly enthusiastic about is creating possibilities for the next generation of Canadian beef producers. “I would say the beef community is very supportive in helping people succeed,” she says. “I think that it’s so important that we have diverse ideas coming to agriculture and that we make spaces for young people to thrive and succeed.”

One such space that she’s proud of is the Young Cattlemen’s Council, a CCA initiative that prepares future industry leaders for taking on roles on national boards. The young producers on the council also have the opportunity to meet with elected and appointed federal officials and share their perspectives with decision-makers.

“This is a really amazing opportunity for young beef producers and has been so effective for us in Ottawa in bringing their perspective because you can see that when they meet with MPs and senators, it’s just so much energy and people are so excited,” says Jackson.

Hearing these perspectives is vital, she continues, when considering the direction of future policy. “If we’re thinking about how to transition this huge amount of baby boomer farmland or equity, I think we really need to be mindful in the policies that we have and that we create to make sure that that next generation can be successful.”

Creating spaces for producers to access resources to help them succeed also extends to the question of inclusivity and diversity. “We should all be mindful of how we encourage diversity, whether that’s age or gender or cultural background,” says Jackson. “I think that it just makes us all stronger, and so being mindful of that and implementing thoughtful initiatives to support it is what’s going to make Canadian agriculture even stronger.”

One of her recommendations to encourage this inclusivity? Mentorship and not just for those starting their careers. She also suggests doing things such as inviting neighbours to meetings and encouraging them to sit on boards and keeping a list of names of people who might be interested in taking on certain roles.

“I really encourage people who are further along in their careers to help find people to mentor but also to have young people mentor them because I think it’s really key that as we move along our careers that we’re also mindful of the knowledge that perhaps different age categories or people from different backgrounds have for us.”

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The two filmmakers, who run Story Brokers Media House, had access to experts from Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The Waldron’s native pastures, nestled between southern Alberta’s Porcupine Hills and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, were lush and green after spring rains. They had almost everything needed to tell another story — a story of a vanishing landscape — that Wray had been thinking about for weeks.

“All of us are wired to be both storytellers and drawn to story,” says Wilson, who lives at Bashaw, Alta., with his family. “Farmers are great storytellers. They gather at the local coffee shop or they gather at the neighbour’s kitchen table for coffee, and it’s always about sharing story. So I think that most agricultural producers in Canada have that innate ability but also have such an incredible story to tell.”

Bringing their skills together, they helped to share an important story about the world’s most endangered ecosystem and the role Canadian beef producers play in its stewardship. This documentary reached audiences outside of agriculture, extending the conversation far beyond the vast grasslands of the Waldron and southern Alberta’s ranching community.

A road less travelled

Wilson’s journey to both agriculture and filmmaking came through following his passions and delving into storytelling mediums. He grew up on an acreage outside of Ponoka, Alta., a community with strong agricultural ties. His parents, who were both optometrists, had many patients who made their living in agriculture. His father always asked his patients questions and learned a lot about farming and ranching from them.

“We’d go on these long bike rides, and I remember at a young age… I would ask my dad all these questions, and he would always know the answers, even though he was just getting the information from all of his patients,” he recalls.

Both his father and grandfather were pilots, and Wilson became interested in aviation. He got his pilot license in high school, then studied aerospace engineering at Ottawa’s Carleton University. Upon graduating in 2004, however, it was a difficult time to find work in Canada’s aerospace industry, and he travelled around the world between jobs. When he found an engineering position in Fort McMurray, he decided to save up for his next big adventure.

“I had this idea that I wanted to travel across Canada in an airplane by myself, kind of a solo adventure, and document this journey,” he says. “I eventually got to the point after a couple years where I had just enough money to buy a tiny little two-seater, single-engine airplane.”

This cross-Canada journey in the summer of 2006 lit a spark that eventually led Wilson to his current career. “I flew from Ponoka out to Victoria, and flew from Victoria all the way to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and back home over a four-month period,” he says. While he was passionate about photography, he thought video would be a better way to share this adventure with others.

Wilson’s initial idea was to make a travel documentary, but he soon decided also to highlight the little-known world of private pilots, a struggling industry in Canada. The decline of the general aviation industry has several parallels to agriculture, he says.

“A lot of people whose parents were pilots aren’t really getting into it anymore the way people used to. There’s a high cost barrier to entry,” he says. “A lot of the small towns where they used to have airports are shrinking, the whole town is disappearing, their schools are closing down — all the challenges that face small rural communities in every province.”

After his trip, Wilson taught himself to edit video footage, and over a four-month period learned the basics as he worked on this film project. Later on, he was offered a position in aerospace engineering, and he and his now-wife, Kelly, moved to Halifax to pursue this opportunity. After his adventures and pursuing creative outlets, however, working in a cubicle wasn’t what he hoped for, and the couple returned to Alberta in 2009.

At that point, Kelly and her family had started a company called Farm On and were looking for a videographer to create website and e-learning content. Wilson joined the Farm On team and continued to learn about videography while making connections with producers and agricultural organizations through these projects.

Around this time, Wilson started hearing from people who were interested in video content outside of agriculture, and he began freelancing on the side. His company, Benjo Productions, grew to the point where he was busy enough to make it his full-time job. Two years ago, he partnered with his sister-in-law, Sarah Wray, who brought her expertise in marketing and social media to their video projects, and together they rebranded the company as Story Brokers Media House.

A story worth telling

“Kristine was talking about how the grasslands are the most endangered ecosystem on the planet,” says Wilson. “Sarah, of course, grew up in cattle production, and I had been learning about it for the last 10 years with my video work… But neither of us had ever heard someone say it’s the most endangered ecosystem on the planet and roughly three-quarters of Canada’s native grasslands are already gone.”

This idea stuck with the filmmakers, particularly for Wray, who started to brainstorm how they could tell this story and hoped for an opportunity to do so in the near future. A couple of weeks later, that opportunity came when they travelled to the Waldron Ranch Grazing Co-op to shoot footage for a short video about the ranch. During the first day of filming, Wilson recalls, Wray told Jill Harvie, then of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s public and stakeholder engagement team, about her idea to tell the story of the Canadian grasslands as a documentary.

Everyone agreed they could ask the interview subjects already present additional questions and shoot more footage for this longer project, which would become Guardians of the Grasslands.

“We got home and we realized we had almost everything we needed to put together this short film,” says Wilson.

Both Harvie and Amie Peck of CCA’s public and stakeholder engagement team supported the film by ensuring they had all the necessary research and that everything was factually correct. Ducks Unlimited provided photos of different species at risk.

“Little things like that that helped us to fill in the gaps and be able to complete the project,” he says. “In two or three weeks, we had all the editing done.”

Afterwards, the subjects featured in Guardians and the partnering organizations — Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy and the CCA’s public and stakeholder engagement team — reviewed the finished product. Wilson emphasizes that creating the film wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration from the three partnering organizations.

After hosting a premiere in Calgary last October, the filmmakers built a website for people to request film screenings, which took off rapidly. Hundreds of requests poured in, from beef organizations in Canada to agricultural groups as far away as Cape Town, South Africa. As well, Peck helped Wilson and Wray submit applications to a number of film festivals.

“We reached a lot of industry people through those screenings, and then when the festivals started happening, the film really started reaching the public outside of agriculture,” says Wilson.

The film’s acclaim at festivals shows its impact beyond the agriculture community, something that hasn’t always been achievable for beef-related stories. “I think that that really was a mark of its success in that this was not simply the agriculture industry telling its story to each other or to itself.”

Although he’s been part of a number of viral agriculture communications campaigns over the past decade, the reach of those was usually limited to industry circles. “This was so exciting and so unique because it was film critics and it was chefs and it was urban audiences and people that just wanted to watch an interesting documentary that were getting excited and raving about it.”

Guardians of the Grasslands has now been a selection at several film festivals across North America, and to date has received six awards for editing, cinematography, research, direction and best short documentary.

“When we started to win some awards, then we really knew ‘Okay, this is really going places.’ It’s not just squeaking into these little small festivals; it’s getting in to festivals in Vancouver and Toronto and Montreal and New York and L.A.”

Playing the role of a storyteller is something Wilson is mindful of, and when he and Wray were choosing a name for their company, they thought about how their combination of skills allows them to help someone better share their story.

“We realized we’re in that unique position of being that broker between the person who has an amazing story to tell and helping them get that story to an audience,” he says.

“Canada has such a unique advantage of these incredible resources that producers are stewards of,” he continues. “Even if you’re not lucky enough to have native grasslands, lots of producers, whether it’s tame pasture or cropland or whatever it is that they’re managing, their commitment to stewarding that land and leaving it in better condition for the next generation is so incredible.”

These stories have power, as Wilson experienced with the public reaction to Guardians, and he understands the value in making meaningful connections with consumers, whether it’s through a compelling documentary or meeting a producer face-to-face.

“They’re blown away when they experience it first hand, how much farmers care and how much producers truly care, what the commitment truly is.”

For more information on the film or to book a screening, visit guardiansofthegrasslands.ca.

The post The power of storytelling appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The PSE program was envisioned under the first National Beef Strategy and has since grown into a fully funded program with three dedicated full-time staff. The program operates as a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), but is funded by the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off. Previously called Issues Management while operating as a pilot, PSE aims to deal with consumer-facing issues related to beef production in Canada and maintain public trust in the Canadian beef industry.

With the now increased capacity, PSE has been able to move away from only focusing on the issue of the day, though this is still a very important area of focus, to more proactive projects that highlight the benefits of Canadian beef for human health and the environment.

One such project that gained a lot of momentum this fall was “Guardians of the Grasslands,” a short documentary that explores the vital role cattle play in preserving Canada’s endangered native prairie grasslands. In partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the film is a beef advocacy tool with an urban audience in mind. Large screening events have been held across the country this fall to promote the project and encourage additional showings in local communities.

The premiere was held in Calgary on October 3 and saw over 125 ranchers, conservation supporters and media attend. From there, a screening was shown in Ottawa on October 30 with attendance comprised of mostly health and environment officials. A discussion on land use policies followed the screening. Screenings in the month of November included locations across the Prairies such as Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

On November 25, Farm and Food Care Ontario hosted the largest event yet at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to a crowd of food influencers, dietitians and media. Reaction to the film was overwhelmingly positive, with many commenting that they were not aware of the role cattle play in ensuring our grasslands exist for future generations. For a largely urban population that is unfamiliar with agriculture, this experience reframed the beef industry from the negative image often portrayed in popular media, to a major contributor to environmental sustainability.

Submitting the film for consideration in film festivals is another essential component of the strategy to reach urban audiences. Both the attendees and media present at these events likely have little or no exposure to positive beef industry messaging, especially the important link between beef production and conservation. So far, the film has been chosen as an Official Selection for a Montreal-based festival and a Best Film Finalist for another in Toronto. Anyone interested in hosting a screening of the film can do so by visiting the documentary website guardiansofthegrasslands.ca.

Another proactive project the PSE team launched in 2019 is Content Corral, a centralized social media content library. This platform contains beef advocacy posts designed to be shared on various social media channels, in order to amplify positive messaging. A small team of content creators upload articles, graphics and videos for end-users who have taken Beef Advocacy Canada training to share through their personal networks. Content Corral will also act as a conduit for campaigns created by the PSE team and will be critical for quickly disseminating key messages when issues arise.

Looking forward to the current year, the PSE program will be further refining its ability to respond to emerging consumer issues by investing in social-listening technology and undertaking more specified consumer surveys. By monitoring both social and traditional media for trends, social-listening programs give users insight into what audiences are talking about. By moving media monitoring to a more advanced platform, PSE will have more opportunities to see what issues may be around the corner and be better prepared to respond.

Another common challenge for agricultural advocacy efforts is the “echo chamber,” where the message is only reaching others in the industry and not the target audience. By surveying various demographics about what resonates with them, the beef industry can better connect with our customers and further our message that Canadian beef is a world leader in sustainability, nutrition and animal care.

I am very proud of the work this team is doing on behalf on the Canadian beef industry. At a time when consumers are less connected to where their food comes from than ever, it’s essential to support efforts to maintain public trust.

The post CCA Reports: Public and stakeholder engagement program gears up appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.