Better Farming recognized at CBM awards

Thursday, June 9, 2016

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Better Farming has netted two honours from the Canadian Business Media Awards.

Don Stoneman, the magazine’s former senior editor, won silver in the annual competition’s best trade feature category. Stoneman’s winning story, “Precision technology on the farm: who owns the data on the new cloud servers?” was published in the January 2015 issue of the magazine. The article probed questions surrounding ownership of data generated by farm equipment for activities ranging from tilling and fertilizer applications to yield mapping and pest control.

“An ad from one of the major tractor manufacturers in Better Farming tweaked my interest,” says Stoneman via email. “The ad said something to the effect that, 'you own your data,' and that made me curious and the story unfolded from there. The research proceeded in fits and starts and took several months to complete. Riding in the tractor with Parkhill farmer Rick Willemse on a November afternoon made it all come together. And that tractor ride became the lede for the story.”

Paul Nolan, Better Farming publisher and editorial director, says in a statement, “We are very happy that Don’s work has been recognized by Canadian Business Media. The quality of his writing stood up well, among solid competition from Canadian Architect, Canadian Grocer, and of course, our own Mary Baxter’s Better Pork feature on the Seaforth barn explosion.
 
“Don’s article on Precision Technology accomplished once again something he’s done for so many years – it brought insight and direction on an important subject, to the commercial farms of Ontario, from a reliable and trusted voice.
 
“Congratulations and well done, Don!"

Baxter also received an honourable mention for her article, “Seaforth barn explosion could hold safety lessons for the pork industry.” The article appeared in the December 2015 issue of Better Pork.

Nicolas Mesly won gold in the category for his Le Coopérateur agricole article, “OGM: ils séduisent ou ils dérangent.”

The awards association handed out gold, silver and honourable mention awards in 21 categories during its ceremony in Toronto on Tuesday. BF