The Rural Voice, 2003-06, Page 25reigning champions at the Wingham
Rib Cook -off and provide a "Country
Supper" at the Blyth Festival to bring
urban theatre -goers more information
on pork and the pork industry.
Over in Perth, the Pork Producers
took part in the Flavours of Perth
food fair, and work with three other
commodity groups helping with the
Junior Farmers Pizza Days where
children make pizzas while learning
about the origins of foods under
Canada's Food Guide.
"We try to channel our efforts
toward food and education events,"
Campbell says. "We get better bang
for our buck that way."
At those events consumers can
be "quite frank" in their
comments on the pork
industry and things such as odour
issues, Campbell says. "It's not an
easy commodity, only because of
people's perceptions — but
perception is reality."
So though Campbell and the eight
other regional co-ordinators are home
economists and primarily concentrate
on food promotion, they also have to
explain the realities of other pork
production on the farm to consumers.
A recent tree planting on one
producer's farm in Wellington
County where students from three
schools were brought in to help plant
trees, helped show that pig farmers
are part of the community, she says.
People need to know that farmers
walk outside of their house and
they're at work, she says. They need
to know that the farmer's children are
playing in the yard so they're not
going to want to do anything
dangerous to the environment.
"I tell people to look for the
Environmental Farm Plan sign on the
gateway," she says. She urges them
to look for signs of what farmers are
doing to minimize environmental
damage.
But if pork can sometimes be a
hard commodity to promote, it has
secret weapons, especially when live
animals can be included in the
display. "Pigs are like kid magnets,"
she says.
Helping promote the industry at
larger events like the Canadian
National Exhibition and the Royal
Winter Fair is Ontario Pork's Pig
Mobile, the brainchild of Clifford -
area producer Ron Douglas, a tireless
promoter of the pork industry. The
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JUNE 2003 91