It rarely gets said in print but it’s true. One of the things Canada gets right about its agriculture is its farm media. We did it well 100 years ago. I’m convinced we still do. Now we’re asking, where do we go from here?
I’m not talking only, or even mainly, about Country Guide when I say this. Page for page, I’d stack Canada’s national, regional and sectoral ag pubs against anyone else’s in the world.
I’d stack our farm journalists — both print and electronic — against anyone else’s too.
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Yes, it’s lamentably true our city dailies have mostly axed their farm beats. Most no longer have staff farm reporters. But the quality of the country’s farm journalists covering agriculture for farm media is as strong, and in many ways stronger, than ever.
But that’s today. What about tomorrow? This is what we’re asking. How do we have to change if we want to keep up?
Country Guide is one of the oldest publications in the country, especially if you add its years as the Norwester before its name changed.
I sometimes thumb through early issues, and I’m always humbled, especially when I recall all the stories I’ve heard from families telling me how much their farm pubs meant to Grandpa and Grandma.
I do think, though, that the reporters from those old days would be pretty impressed by what they’d see in our pages today too. At least, I like to think so. But if it’s true, it’s mainly because we’ve stayed aimed at the same value: write for your reader. Times change, the vision remains.
The corollary is also as true in farm publishing as it is on the farm. If times change and you don’t, you can’t really say you’re still true to the same values.
When I signed on with Country Guide, we saw a need to differentiate a farm publication based on its focus on business issues.
We also, though, saw that the role of Country Guide has always been to talk to farmers about the most important decisions they make. We needed to report on the insights you have developed, the needs you have identified and skills you have honed.
We still do.
Does it matter whether that’s in print or electronically? Well, the short answer is both yes and no. We have to be where our readers want us to be. Our website and related tactics already show this, and I can promise you’ll see both more and better in this direction.
But it’s also true that we can’t leave behind the incredible way that print has helped us explore those insights, needs and skills with you.
This summer, the discussions are getting more serious, both for Guide and for our family of farm publications. I’m sure it will be for our competitors too.
If I’m correct, we’ll be as surprised by what we see in future Guides as those reporters of a century ago would be about us today. You can bet on this, though. We’re committed to getting it right.
Let me know what you think. I’m at [email protected].
