The Rural Voice, 2005-06, Page 3About this issue
Over 30 gears publishing has changed just like farming
In June 1975 a slim tabloid newspaper called The Rural
Voice appeared for the first time, mailed to members of the
Huron County Federation of Agriculture and containing
local agricultural news and comment. Over the 30 years
since, The Rural Voice, and farm publishing in general,
have seen almost as much change as farming itself.
Like farming, the publishing industry has gone through
many technological changes over 30 years. When a
colleague retired a few years back he said the prospect of
going through his fifth change in technology was what
drove him from the office. When this magazine started, it
had been only a few years since newspapers had been
printed using the lead letters, covered with ink, pressed
against newsprint. We then moved to "offset" printing
where the image was transferred from flat metal plate to
paper. Things have stayed pretty much the same on the
printing end since then but how a newspaper is assembled
to that point the plate is created, has changed many times.
The early days saw type set with the equivalent of a
sophisticated typewriter, then photographed. Next came
computerized phototypsetting with light shone through a
strip of film exposing letters to photographic paper where
the image was developed and the type assembled on pages
in a process we called "pasting up".
Later we moved to setting type with computers but still
pasting up. Computers improved and we began putting the
magazine together on the computer except for photos
which were still created by a mechanical process and
pasted in.
In the last few years digital photography has meant
photos are processed through the computer and placed right
in the copy with no film, developer or paper needed. In fact
some of our pages, and most of many publications, now go
straight from computer to a digital platemaker which
creates the plate for the press.
Our world has changed economically, just as yours has
on the farm. Government cutbacks cost us income when
advertising programs were cut or agencies like Centralia
College dismantled. Cutbacks cost us more when postal
costs soared through the cancellation of the program we
depended on to help reduce mailing costs. Consolidation of
farm dealerships and their suppliers have meant fewer
clients to advertise. And like everyone else, we've felt the
pain of the BSE crisis in our pocketbook.
But enough about us. We decided to use our 30th
anniversary as an occasion to try to put some perspective
on agriculture. We wanted to look backward at the path
farming has followed in the past 30 years so we talked to a
man who played a vital part in shaping agricultural policy
30 years ago: former OFA president Gordon Hill.
We wanted to look ahead, so we talked to two people
with very different views on the future of agriculture: Dr.
Gordon Surgeoner and Prof. Ann Clark as well as to
Ontario Pork Chair Larry Skinner. It makes for some
provocative thinking.
June is traditionally our swine issue so we have two
stories. One of the premier breeders of swine genetics over
the years has been Bodmin Limited of Brussels. This year
the company marks its 50th anniversary (they make Rural
Voice seem like a pup) and we talked to George Procter.
John and Ann Nesbit took a different step when they
built a new hog finishing barn last fall. They chose an "old
fashioned" option with straw and solid manure but with a
modern application using an electronic sorter to precisely
determine when hogs are ready for market.
We hope you'll enjoy this anniversary issue and that
both you and the magazine can go on for another 30 years
together.0 — KR
TM°Rural Voice
Published monthly by:
The Rural Voice,
Box 429, Blyth, Ontario,
NOM 1H0
Telephone: 519-523-4311 (fax 523-9140).
e-mail: norhuron@scsintemet.com
Subscriptions: $17.12 (12 issues)
(includes 7% GST)
Back copies $2.75 each
For U.S. rates, add $5 per year
Changes of address, orders for subscriptions
and undeliverable copies (return postage
guaranteed) are to be sent to The Rural Voice
at the address listed above.
A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.
NH
Moam MOON MMHGmMm'rc.1
Editor & Publisher: Keith Roulston
Editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron Cty;
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.;
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
Contributing writers:
Bonnie Gropp, Carol Riemer, Ralph
Pearce, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Larry Drew
Marketing & Advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
Advertising representative:
Allen Hughes
Production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
Advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
Printed & mailed by: Signal -Star Publishing, Goderich, Ontario
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