The Rural Voice, 2000-06, Page 26BEHIND
THE
GREEN DOORS
Though OMAFRA's extension offices are
now officially closed, there are still
people working in some offices as part of
the new Agricultural Technology Resource
Centres. So what are these people doing?
By Keith Roulston
So
the OMAFRA county
extension offices are closed
now and you're told if you
want information you must call the
toll-free number in Guelph or log -on
to the website. Yet now and then you
still catch sight of the familiar face of
a former crop or livestock adviser at
a meeting and you see cars in the
parking lot of some of the former
OMAFRA offices. So what's going
on behind those doors?
Well to some extent, say people
working in the 13. Agriculture
Technology Resource Centres,
they're still trying to figure that out.
With such a major change in
structure, it's going to take time for
everyone to fit into the new model.
There's been a lot of time spent on
orientation, says Dan Carlow,
OMAFRA manager of marketing and
communications, and until recently
field services manager for Huron and
Perth. It was important for people in
the resource centres to have a clear
understanding of what their role is
and isn't under the new model.
"The initial start-up phase is
critical," says Carlow.
In the end, he says, there will be
more ways than before for people to
contact OMAFRA through the call
centre which will take inquiries
Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., and, through the website, where
information is available any hour of
22 THE RURAL VOICE
the day or night. Those who don't
have access to a computer at home
can take advantage of computers in
many libraries, municipal offices or
other community sites through the
Community Access Program (CAP).
People seeking information can also
e-mail their request to the Guelph
centre. There are also government
information kiosks, such as one in
the government building in Stratford
that houses the OMAFRA office.
The Guelph call centre has been
fielding 600-700 calls a week,
Carlow says. It is staffed by a team of
people who were already OMAFRA
employees so they know the products
and resources that are available for
callers. The benefit of calling a
central location is that there's a
consistent approach to inquiries,
rather than the 32 extension offices
across the province, he says. Because
the staff specialize they can also be
aware of all the relative information.
One senses talking to some of the
specialists, however, that many who
came up through the old extension
office system, are still dubious about
whether the grand experiment can be
pulled off.
The idea behind the new
OMAFRA structure is to use the
resources of the ministry more for
collecting leading edge information
than for distributing information as in
the past. So, for instance, the Strat-
ford office includes a cluster of crop
specialists including: Rob
Templeman, (formerly at Stratford),
specializing in soybeans and edible
beans; Brian Hall, (previously at
Stratford and Clinton), alternate crop
production systems specialist
(including organic farming); Peter
Johnson, (formerly in London),
cereals specialist; Keith Reid,
(formerly in Walkerton), soil fertility
specialist; and Michael Payne,
(formerly from Perth, in eastern
Ontario) as biosolids specialist.
"Having staff side by side can add
value to each other's work," says
Carlow. By concentrating a group of
specialists in one office close to the
centre of the activities in their field of
expertise, it's hoped that they'll be
able to provide leads for each other in
developing new information
packages to be distributed. Their
challenge, Carlow says, will be to
develop leading edge information
and make it available across the
province.
But can a group of crop specialists
based in Stratford, develop
information that will be applicable
for the cropping extremes of Windsor
to Ottawa to Rainy River? Carlow
says it will be a challenge but one
OMAFRA is confident can be met by
getting the specialists out and around
the province and through the use of
technology, from phones to faxes to