The Communicator

February 2024 Issue – See All

Views, Considerations & Unknowns for 2024

With 2024 upon us, the agriculture trade show and seminar season is now in full swing.

Increasing your company’s brand reputation

A well-thought-out brand marketing campaign will help you grow and promote your brand.

The world is not enough

Wanting to do their part in reducing global GHG emissions, Canadian farmers still can’t catch a break from federal tax fees. But what’s going on around the world?

Show your mature workforce the love they deserve

Learn how the top employers support the ever-evolving needs of their employees through their changing career phases.

CN expands its central US reach

Canadian National has agreed to purchase the agricultural Iowa Northern Railway.

5 agricultural technology trends to watch in 2024

As more Canadian farmers are accepting of new technologies over ye olde tried and true, look at some ways more AgTech can improve the sector’s lot.

The current state of global agricultural testing

Using just-in-time technology to thwart the spread of pathogenic disease in ag.

The world of seed technology: things to know for 2024

With science changing along with the seasons, we look at the world of seed technology, offering a forecast.

Of all the stories we get to tell in this magazine, some of my favourites are those that appear in our sustainability department. These articles tend to deal with topics that take place at the intersection of advancements in technology and appreciation of a precious resource.

Whatever your buzzword of choice may be, “sustainable,” “regenerative,” or “stewardship,” ag retailers and agriculture are doing it. We see it all the time; retailers are helping customers take action, big and small, to ensure the long-term productivity and sustainability of Canadian food production.

In our reporting in this issue, we take a look at the work of two companies turning waste into fertilizer. Neither process in their current form is going to make a significant advancement in how fertilizer is produced and managed on a global scale, but both represent a small contribution toward accomplishing what I believe is a key component of the future of agriculture – nutrient recovery and recycling within our food system. This is a conversation we’ve seen gaining traction and one I am looking forward to following.

Another conversation starting to take off is the one the agriculture sector is having with the youth of today. Next month is Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month. What started out as a “week” had to be expanded to a month thanks, in part, to demand from our youth to know more about agriculture’s story.

I also find our reporting on stories of CAAR members working with youth to be particularly satisfying. More often than not, these stories centre around educating them on what modern agriculture looks like for the purpose of encouraging them to consider a career in the sector.

Is economic security the real motivation these kids are looking for in their career? Are we doing enough to share our sustainability story with youth during our interactions with them? Study after study tell us that youth are putting less emphasis on careers that offer fame and fortune and more on a career that offers them an opportunity to make a difference.

I believe agriculture can offer them that. I also believe we all need to do more to let them know that opportunity exists. Engaging youth in all that agriculture has to offer may be one of our greatest opportunities to come up with new ideas that have the potential to make lasting, positive solutions to the challenges facing food production.

Granted, I don’t know what those new ideas might be – but I’ll bet they are out there in the minds of some kids in the eighth grade, just waiting to germinate.


Got a story about engaging youth in agriculture to change the world? We want to hear it – email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Related Articles

  • Forward Thinking With many agriculture events and meetings being cancelled this spring with the growing spread of the COVID-19 virus, CAAR was lucky enough to have had the 2020 CAAR Conference wrapped up before much of the world put ...
  • The Constancy of Change In April of 1997 a young writer, fresh out of college, started on the first phase of his career at a publisher working on ag magazines. That writer was me, and the first magazine I was assigned to work on was The Com...
  • Innovation, Evolution and Change If there was one thing that stood out during the creation of this magazine, it was that significant changes are currently underway across agriculture and ag retail. Both feature stories in this issue have themes of i...
  • Invaluable Conversations Every year, I come away from the CAAR Conference with my head spinning. It takes a bit of time to process all of the information, all of the implications and simply take a breath after the fast pace of the event. ...
  • An Exciting Time for The Communicator Diving headfirst into producing the February issue of The Communicator after a holiday break is the perfect project to kick off the new year. Maybe it's the chill in the air, but I feel energized and eager to get to ...

Join the discussion...

You must be logged in as a CAAR member to comment.