The Citizen, 2011-11-10, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011.ACW’s Wayne Black to run for OFA presidentAuburn-area resident WayneBlack recently became a Director atLarge in the Ontario Federation ofAgriculture (OFA) but he isn’t stop-ping there.The cash crop farmer from justnorth of Auburn recently announced
his intentions to try and become the
president of the farmer-focused
group after the now-past-president
Bette Jean Crews stepped down.
Black has received a lot of support
both locally and across the province
thanks to his visibility and participa-
tion in both traditional media
sources and regular media
sources.
Originally his drive started as an
attempt to become a vice-president
for the OFA but Crews’ resignation
changed that.
“With Bette Jean stepping down I
decided to jump right into the race
for the presidential position,” he
said. “I’ve got support from OFA
members here at home and from
across the province.”
A lot of the recognition that Black
has received has been due to his
activity in the public eye.“Twitter and traditional media hasreally led to this,” he said. “Both reg-ular and newer media are the maindrivers.”Black explained that, since begin-ning to use Twitter, a social mediawebsite and service that allows usersto post 140-character messages, hehas been able to sift through relevant
news easier, share it with his fellow
farmers and OFA members and
eventually has led to him being the
focus of traditional news stories, like
a piece that the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
recently did on him.
“People have recognized what I’m
capable of through Twitter, the
media and OFA,” he said.
Black came to social network
technology as he was looking for a
means to discuss farming issues with
other farmers beyond his neigh-
bours.
“Farmers at a local coffee shop
and in such rural areas can feel iso-
lated,” he said. “I can use Twitter to
converse with farmers, farm advisors
and crop advisors.
“I can share my successes and fail-
ures and tap into new sources of
information,” he said.The brief nature of Twitter appealsto Black and helps him weed outwhat stories aren’t going to be inter-esting to him.“I use Twitter because it’s shortand to the point,” he said. “If it does-n’t grab my attention in 140 charac-ters I move on.”Information as constantly chang-
ing as grain prices and foreign mar-
kets like the recent economic strife
in Europe that may have bearing on
his farming are now instantly avail-
able to Black via his iPad and
Twitter.
“I found out how the Greece and
Europe debt crisis would affect me
while I was out in the fields,” he
said. “I knew about the lowered
lending rates that would be available
there and how that might affect me.
Before I wouldn’t have been able to
use that in the field.”
Black said that some professionals
and experts on Twitter provide valu-
able sources of information but that
other agricultural shareholders also
provide an important service on the
social networking site.
“I started using Twitter at a period
of time when you really need to
know who to trust,” he said. “I firststarted following a lot of newssources, but I found that they shareda lot of things that weren’t pertinentto me.”Black eventually began followingfellow agricultural shareholders whohad a knack for finding importantstories.“I found people to follow who fil-
tered out the useless information,” he
said. “They act like filters and only
retweet [a means to share something
that has been posted by another
users] things that are useful to farm-
ers.”
Black said that social media isn’t
necessarily responsible for many
changes on the ground but may have
made other changes more justified.
“It’s changed how I market my
crops but it’s hard to say if anything
has changed in the field because of
it,” he said.
The communications technology
did help him with his job as Director
at Large though.
“It most definitely helped me be
successful,” he said. “I am able to
keep in contact with members and
farmers and agricultural media has
profiled users of social media like
me which helps get our messageout.”Black said that other farmers arepicking up the service quite rapidlydue to the instantaneous nature of itand the ability to reach audiencesthey might not have found before.“For example I was discussing anissue with Phil Shaw [also known as
@Agridome on Twitter] and Ontario
Premier Dalton MGuinty joined in,”
Black said. “The conversation was
carried to [former Huron-Bruce
MPP and Ontario Minister of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]
Carol Mitchell and eventually led to
a face-to-face conversation regarding
the issue.
“Twitter really gives you a way to
communicate with the various levels
of government that wasn’t there
before,” he said.
Black will be running against the
OFA’s two current vice-presidents,
Don McCabe and Mark Wales, dur-
ing the association’s annual meeting
in Toronto on Nov. 21.
To see what Black has to say
follow @waynekblack through
Twitter or visit twitter.com/
waynekblack
Continued from page 17
friend, Scotty Vernelli, who was
killed in Afghanistan a few years ago
and that was difficult. It made me
want to honour his sacrifice by con-
tinuing the mission to which he was
committed.”
Shane interacted with the Afghan
people on only a few occasions.
“The people there are very poor
and oppressed and subjected to hor-
rific injustices. We need to do what
we can to help, to give security and
freedom to people who can not
defend themselves,” he says.
“The smell of the water treatment
reservoir, which was appropriately
nick-named the ‘Poo Pond’, was
quite the experience. We could even
smell it inside the airplane as we
flew over the airfield.”
Unlike infantry soldiers who have
little communication from family
and friends, except through letters or
word of mouth, Loder and his crew
members kept in contact with home
through e-mail and phone calls.
Long-distance calling cards were
provided so they could chat for 35
minutes a week. At Canada House in
Kandahar Airfield, there was access
to a small library and a few newspa-
pers.
“The best thing was a Tim
Hortons,” says Loder, “but the selec-
tion was small, just coffee, dough-
nuts and iced caps, which provided a
refreshing break from the heat and a
nice reminder of home.”
Shane had a Tim Hortons account
that family and friends could top up
whenever they wished; he shared the
gifts with his crew.
“I was grateful for cards and pho-
tos from friends and family. It
helped remind me of who we were
fighting for,” he says. “I had some-
thing to look forward to. It made me
feel that people back home appreci-
ated what I was doing for them and
that they supported me and our mis-
sion.
“I really enjoyed my experience,
but I’m also very happy to be home
with family. I value the freedom
from oppression and violence that
we enjoy in Canada. I look forward
to using the experience I gained to
help prepare our next crews who will
be deployed in support of our mis-
sions abroad,” says Loder. “I want
people to be aware of the sacrifices
military families make every day,
being separated from each other for
long periods of time.
“We truly are thankful when fel-
low Canadians and our family and
friends show their support. Words of
encouragement and appreciation go
a long way.”
Blyth native stays in touch in Afghanistan
Duff’s dinner
Tom Williamson, a farmer from the Walton area, was one of
many volunteers who made the Duff’s United Church
Annual Turkey Supper at the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre on Nov. 2 a reality. (Denny Scott photo)
McGavin
Farm Supply Ltd.
1-877-887-6365 Walton 519-887-6365
To serve you better,
our mobile inspection
and repair service
available
Take advantage of these offers today!
REPAIR AND PREPARE
WITH McGAVIN FARM SUPPLY LTD.
Now that you’re finishing all your fieldwork, it’s time to give
your equipment a well-deserved rest and get everything
ready for winter. And that means it’s time to call McGavin
Farm Supply Ltd. to schedule your equipment for a certified
inspection and stock up on the parts you need.
Schedule an inspec
t
i
o
n
b
e
f
o
r
e
D
e
c
e
m
b
e
r
3
1
,
2
0
1
1
t
o
r
e
c
e
i
v
e
:
0 %INTEREST
UNTIL MARCH 2012
F
O
R
9
0
DAYS
OR
AND NO
PAYMENTS
6 EXTRA MONT
H
S
OF WARRANTY PRO
T
E
C
T
I
O
N
6-month extended wa
r
r
a
n
t
y
a
v
a
i
l
a
b
l
e
o
n
g
e
n
u
i
n
e
New Holland replacem
e
n
t
p
a
r
t
s
w
i
t
h
a
n
e
x
i
s
t
i
n
g
6
-
m
o
n
t
h
w
a
r
r
a
n
t
y
FALL PARTS
A
N
D
SERVICE SPE
C
I
A
L
S
I
N
EFFECT NOW
!
!
By Denny ScottThe Citizen