Maybe it’s while we’re on the phone for tech support. Or it could be when we’re in the bank, or maybe it’s when we’re talking to our agronomist or we’re at a meeting to get briefed on the latest new technology.
That’s when it hits us. Agriculture isn’t nearly so white anymore.
Personally, I know very few if any farmers who see this as a threat. The old red-neck stereotype of farmers is turning out to be just as wrong as every other stereotype. In my experience, there are few places where you’re accepted for what you bring to the table faster than on the farm.
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But that doesn’t mean there isn’t discomfort.
Worse, there can be awkwardness too, which can be all too apparent to everyone involved.
“I dunno,” we might say, “this guy might be Muslim. Can I invite him in for lunch?”
Or, “I dunno. If she’d just slow down, I could probably understand her a whole lot better. Should I say something?”
To help get the answers, I talked to a couple of Canada’s leading diversity experts. The answers, they say, are surprisingly simple.
But if it’s important to the future of your farm to cultivate strong relations with bankers, agronomists, researchers, marketers and buyers, it’s time to start
putting your best foot forward. After all, if the makeup of the student bodies at Canada’s farm universities is any indication (especially at masters and doctoral levels), agriculture will soon be as diverse and cosmopolitan as any city street.
So, read these interviews with two Canadians who devote a lot of thought to the subject of diversity, and listen as they share their ideas on how to communicate without feeling perplexed or awkward.
The key, they say, is simply to learn how to be respectful in the face of difference.
Meet Nayyar Javed…
Nayyar Javed is president of the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association Inc. (where she has been involved in equity and racism initiatives for over 20 years. She also works as a registered psychologist at the Saskatoon Community Clinic, and she wraps up our discussion about diversity with what seems to me to be a startling observation. Coming from Pakistan, Javed says she feels very much at home in Saskatchewan.
I shouldn’t be surprised, she says. After all, there are many similarities here with the rural culture in which she was raised, so she feels much more affinity for Prairie lifestyles than in large urban centres such as New York.
What’s her point? Don’t rule out commonalities. Culture, Javed notes, varies not only on the basis of country, but by region and occupation too.
That’s important, Javed explains, because finding that common ground is a key element of successful interaction. “Feeling awkward in intercultural communication is normal,” Javed says.
…and Nadir Shirazi
Nadir Shirazi is all over the agricultural connection as soon as I call him. Shirazi is president and CEO of Multifacet Diversity Solutions (and program co-ordinator of the University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre.
I had been expecting Shirazi to talk to me about diversity in an urban setting, but he’s quick to tell me that the suburb where he grew up backed onto farmland, and lots of his classmates were farm kids.
While that suburb has less farmland today, Shirazi is quick to jump to another agricultural theme. Diversity is good for business, Shirazi believes. That includes agriculture. He tells me for instance about Mennonite farms that are doing a booming business with Muslim
Maybe it’s while we’re on the phone for tech support. Or it could be when we’re in the bank, or maybe it’s when we’re talking to our agronomist or we’re at a meeting to get briefed on the latest new technology.
That’s when it hits us. Agriculture isn’t nearly so white anymore.
Personally, I know very few if any farmers who see this as a threat. The old red-neck stereotype of farmers is turning out to be just as wrong as every other stereotype. In my experience, there are few places where you’re accepted for what you bring to the table faster than on the farm.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t discomfort.
Worse, there can be awkwardness too, which can be all too apparent to everyone involved.
“I dunno,” we might say, “this guy might be Muslim. Can I invite him in for lunch?”
Or, “I dunno. If she’d just slow down, I could probably understand her a whole lot better. Should I say something?”
To help get the answers, I talked to a couple of Canada’s leading diversity experts. The answers, they say, are surprisingly simple.
But if it’s important to the future of your farm to cultivate strong relations with bankers, agronomists, researchers, marketers and buyers, it’s time to start
putting your best foot forward. After all, if the makeup of the student bodies at Canada’s farm universities is any indication (especially at masters and doctoral levels), agriculture will soon be as diverse and cosmopolitan as any city street.
So, read these interviews with two Canadians who devote a lot of thought to the subject of diversity, and listen as they share their ideas on how to communicate without feeling perplexed or awkward.
The key, they say, is simply to learn how to be respectful in the face of difference.
