Better Farming is the biggest and best magazine for Ontario’s business farmers, according to their website. It was launched by AgMedia in 1999 and continues the proud tradition of editorial excellence of its predecessor, Farm & Country. Better Farming‘s professional approach to ag journalism sets them apart from other agricultural media outlets and defines their service to Ontario’s commercial farmers. Better Farming’s website explains how the magazine is dedicated to the interests and current events impacting Ontario farmers, and further aims to providing genuine and accurate information to farmers in Ontario. The staff of Better Farming has won over a dozen awards, and one of their main goals is to convey content in a short and concise manner in order to ensure farmers are able to remain informed in less time because of their hectic schedules.
Better Farming discloses on their website that they are conscious of the fact that they will likely be unable to please all of their readers simultaneously. They emphasize how certain agricultural issues require a deeper exploration than others, and they further emphasize that farming is, in fact, a profession. The magazine expresses via their website how they believe small-town and rural Ontario were more adequately served when newspapers and journals were family-owned and operated. This belief carries over into their content, and their website states how they aim for their magazine to re-establish an editor-reader bond to encourage trust and loyalty from readers.
Each issue of Better Farming features a farmer or a farming family in a photo-essay format. Roughly three pages of the magazine are dedicated to portraying images of a farmer and the crops they produce, a format that is refreshing and visually engaging. My father, Paul Arva, was the feature of a photo-essay this past summer, and these types of features are effective in the sense that they depict a more personable side of local farmers and their families. Better Farming is committed to bridging the gap between urban and rural communities through their informative content and their emphasis upon agriculture within Ontario.
(Header Image from http://www.betterfarming.com/search-betterfarming-magazine-archive)
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