The Rural Voice, 2000-06, Page 422 5 years of telling the
rural story
As The Rural Voice celebrates the 25th
anniversary of its first edition in 1975, so
much has changed in agriculture but so
many issues remain the same
B3' Sarab Caldwell
Twenty-five years after the first issue of The Rural
Voice appeared in June 1975, the publication has
come full circle, back being published from an office
in Blyth with Keith Roulston as publisher. Ah but what an
interesting trip it has had along the way.
Since that first issue, a tabloid size paper serving only
Huron County, appeared, the magazine has hall six owners
and its offices have moved from Blyth to Seaforth, to the
Dungannon -area farm home of Sheila and Merle Gunby,
into Goderich and back to Blyth.
One relationship has remain steady, however — the co-
operation between the magazine and local Federations of
Agriculture. In 1975 Roulston made arrangements with the
Huron Federation of Agriculture to publish their newsletter
as part of the paper if the federation would pay a small
subscription fee to distribute the magazine to its members.
It also gave the entrepenuring publisher a circulation base
for the fledging publication. In later years this relationship
was extended to the Perth, Grey and Bruce and Rainy
River Federations of Agriculture and the Perth County
Pork Producers.
"The magazine was very well received in the farming
community," said Bev Browp, the a pork farmer and active
member of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture
who later went on to become an co-owner of the magazine
with Sheila Gunby.
Adrian Vos who lives near Blyth, was also a part of the -
unfolding story of The Rural Voice's history when he
started writing a column in the first issue of the newspaper.
His adventures into writing a monthly column for The
Rural Voice until the early '90s all started when he wrote
some "little nothings" for The Blyth Standard. Much to his
surprise they were picked up by the area's community
newspapers. It was from this start that Roulston asked him
to write a column. Vos went on to win several Canadian
Farm Writers' Federation Awards in the early '80s, for his
column, which he described as having a liberal point of
view.
"I never used to bring out my opinions in public but
when I started doing it and at an advanced age it surprised
me — both the support and opposition I received as well,"
said Vos who started writing his column for The Rural
Voice when he was 55 years old.
"I like farm politics better than farming itself, which
tends to get dull," said Vos who ran a hog farm for 20
years. "Farm politics never gets dull." One of the most
controversial columns he recalls was about how a supply
rnanagement system in the pork industry couldn't work
38 THE RURAL VOICE
Many of those involved with The Rural Voice over the
years have had distinguished careers in agriculture.
Merle (a former Federation president,) and Sheila
Gunby, Rural Voice publisher received the Huron
County Federation of Agriculture Award (top) in 1985.
Gerry Fortune (bottom, with Carol Finch) also served as
Huron Federation president and won the Federation
Award. Gisele Ireland (inset) was active in Bruce County
farm groups.
complete with figures from the University of Guelph. Vos
stopped writing his monthly column in the early '90s
because of changing priorities in his life.
The Rural Voice changed from a newspaper to a
magazine format in 1977; a year later, Roulston sold the
publication to McLean Brothers Publishers in Seaforth to
pursue his interest in play writing. Andy McLean passed
the duties of editor to his daughter Susan White, who
Brown said, didn't have a farm background. Gisele Ireland,
Sheila Gunby, Adrian Vos and Bev Brown who were
active in the Huron and Bruce Federations of Agriculture
became White's advisory board. An informal advisory
board is still a part of The Rural Voice today to offer
feedback about how the magazine is doing from the