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Every couple of years, my dad
asks if I’m serious about spending the
rest of my life in “the city.” I’m always
surprised by the question because I never
actually thought I would last in Calgary
for 10 years, let alone 20.
Although living in Calgary can feel like
putting in time, it has allowed me to pur-
sue a career that puts my love of agricul-
ture to good use. Through my job, I’m able
to advocate for agriculture, farmers and
farming in a way that I didn’t know was
possible 20 years ago.
From growing up on a ranch in the
Crowsnest Pass to attending university on
a science scholarship and graduating with
a degree in political science, I feel like
I’ve done a bit of everything. Although my
parents thought I would never get a job
with that political science degree, I’ve ex-
perienced everything from tourism to gov-
ernment relations to book and magazine
publishing. When I look back at where I
started, it seems like I moved from ranch-
ing to ag politics almost overnight.
But that’s just the short version of the
story.
As an advocate for agriculture, if I could
go back in time 20 or 30 years—say, as a
teacher in a K-to-12 school in my home-
town of Lundbreck, Alberta—I would be
an educator who challenged students to
talk about agriculture. If I worked in a
classroom today, I would encourage farm
kids to tell their own stories—to talk to
their classmates and friends about what
life is really like on a farm.
Agriculture is exciting and dynamic—
and without it, we would not have food.
Unfortunately, no one outside of our
industry knows what it takes to get food
on grocery store shelves.
This information gap is obvious when
we do presentations on behalf of the
Classroom Agriculture Program
when even the students in small,
rural communities have never
been on a farm.
We also know this from
consumer questions at agri-
culture events like Aggie Days
and the Calgary Stampede,
where kids think that eggs come
from the grocery store—and are
seriously grossed out when they
find out that eggs actually come
from chickens. We hear about it on
social media when our close friends and
family members are sharing posts and
updates about modern agriculture—and
the updates don’t fit the facts. We see it
at the political level when agriculture is
challenged for everything it does wrong,
but never commended for all the things it
does right.
If we are not advocating for our own
industry, we should not be surprised
every time we see agriculture getting
beat up on TV, in social media and in the
newspapers.
Drawing these connections between
food and agriculture—between farmers
and farming—is a key part of a story that
only those who work in agriculture can
tell. Yet regular people don’t want to hear
about it from just anyone—they want
to hear about farming from “real life”
farmers.
One of my favourite quotes (and not just
because I grew up with four brothers) is
from Mike Tyson: “Everybody has a plan
until they get punched in the face.”
Years ago, I gave a presentation to a
group of egg farmers that showed some
TheBest LaidPlans
By lisa skierka
Tall
WISHES
of the video clips that come up when you
do a Google search for “egg farming.” Of
all the videos that were easily accessible,
not one was positive. Just knowing that
the videos were out there inspired these
farmers to start telling their own stories
and speaking up for their own industry—
countering the negative messages with
their own stories about life on the farm.
This presentation ended up being a
wake-up call to the farmers in the audi-
ence—a punch in the face.
In agriculture, our plan is often to sim-
ply keep on working—to do what we do,
and to do it well. Yet if we are not advo-
cating for smart agriculture using modern
science, then no one will do it for us. Let’s
be advocates for agriculture at home, as
well as in coffee shops, on TV and via
social media. Let’s tell people around us
what we do and inspire new generations
to get involved.
Lisa Skierka is the General Manager of
Alberta Barley.
Spring
2014
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