The Citizen, 2006-03-16, Page 34Armchair tourist
For city girl and Citizen reporter Heather Crawford a trip to
the Ontario Farm Animal Council's virtual tour website had
some very valuable lessons about farm life. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006. PAGE A13.
Agriculture 2006
Learn more about farming from OFAC website
On tour
For people not familiar with
agriculture the Ontario Farm
Animal Council's virtual tour
website offers an easy way to
get informed. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Although I grew up in rural Nova
Scotia where everyone around me -
grandparents-, aunts, uncles, cousins
- were all farmers, I myself have
neve lived on a farm. And because
of this I have never really put much
thought (embarrassingly) into where
my food comes from.
I found something comforting in
the unexplained. I thought if I didn't
know the route my hamburger took
to becoming a hamburger then it
didn't really happen.
Then I moved to Huron County.
No longer was ignorance an
option. Farmers were everywhere.
Fighting to be heard, calling me up
with stories, holding plowing
matches and getting ahead of me in
my city-style rush with their tractors
on the highway.
Scrolling through the virtual tour
of a farm on the Ontario Farm
Animal Council website
(www.ofac.org) taught me three very
valuable lessons.
First of all, never underestimate
the amount of work required to bring
dinner to the table. Second of all,
there are a number of precautions
taken, and taken very seriously, to
ensure that the food on my table is
safe and I have nothing to worry
about.
And filially, not enough people are
aware of these first two points.
OFAC is working hard to bridge
the gap betWeen fanners and the rest
of the population (all of whom
benefit from farmers) and that is
obvious with this website. It is a
comprehensive and useful site full of
definitions of terms that may be
foreign to some as well as answers to
the questions that most people don't
think to ask.
When I was first assigned stories
about farming organizations and
issues I approached it as if I would
be entering another country. "What
if I don't understand what they're
saying," I would ask co-workers,
while they stifled a chuckle.
The website however, could be my
saving grace. It offers a dictionary of
farming terms which is helpful for
those who are new to the farming
experience.
Definitions for words such as
Wapidi (another word for elk),
backgrounder, ruminants, Hogget
and cervids are provided to clear
things up while you browse.
The site also gives a detailed
account of life on a farm,
introducing the owners and keeping
the interest of the browser by
offering a magnifying glass to search
a picture of a home for question
marks that once clicked on reveal a
hidden area of farm life.
To date, the featured farms include
cow/cattle fanns, a beef feedlot,
sheep, deer and elk farms. More are
expected to be added in the near
future.
The site is designed in a fashion
similar to a real estate website,
enabling interested spectators to
view the property, and have
questions and concerns answered
without having to leave home.
It was designed for the purpose of
"making agriculture .more
interesting and accessible to our
customers - the consumer," a
newsletter from OFAC said.
The farmers are videotaped
performing particular tasks such as
working with their cattle, shearing
sheep, feeding elk and helping a
lamb come into the world.
There are interesting facts
available and answers to questions
that might have seemed too obvious
to ask before such as why do cows
have four stomachs and what do deer
eat? Also, there is no fear that the
computer will chuckle at you for
having asked.
The most amazing thing about this
website is that simple city folk, who
don't own a single pair of boots that
can be hosed down before entering a
barn, can get an up close and
personal experience with farm life,
hopefully gaining an appreciation
for where food and other goods
come from as well as an appreciation
for the people who get it there.
You can access the site at
www.farmissues.com or through the
OFAC website.