If you didn’t catch CBC’s Steven and Chris visiting Joe Loewith and Sons’ 800-acre Dairy Farm in Lynden, Ontario, you can fortunately watch the entertaining (yet educational) segment online.
Steven and Chris met with dairy farmer Ben Loewith on his family’s farm earlier this year in April. Now with his own young son and daughter, Ben is the third generation working on the farm – a farm with clear strong family roots.
Ben toured the eager duo through numerous aspects of the farm, including some daily tasks of a dairy farmer – feeding the cows, seeing how they are kept clean and healthy (CQM), and even getting to milk them by hand. A few comical situations were sure to ensue.
Just a brief segment, the clip in its nearly 5-minute duration still demonstrates the amount and variety of strenuous work needed on the farm (of course in a humorous Steven-and-Chris fashion). And though the segment was only around 5 minutes long, they were shooting for over 6 hours. Ben tells us it was a very fun experience, feeling that they were able to show the industry in a positive light – certainly an important takeaway.
Dairy Farmers of Canada, who are responsible for all marketing for Canadian dairy farmers, were the first point of contact for Ben in getting this piece on CBC. They arranged for the segment to appear on the Steven and Chris show, asking if the Loewiths would be willing to have a production team come and visit the farm. No doubt a great opportunity to showcase their own farm, this was also an excellent venue to educate viewers about the Canadian dairy farming business in general. Surely we all know the importance and value of getting an opportunity to share farming stories with wider audiences.
We got to speak with Ben about the experience, and he thoughtfully shared with us: “It is incredibly important to reach out to the general public and show them what a day looks like on a farm. So often, the agriculture industry, especially livestock industries, are forced to be reactionary. This was an opportunity to show a very urban demographic the type of care and effort that goes into producing food.”
Ben explains that the message is simple: farmers work hard, take excellent care of their animals, and make the best food in the world. He feels if that came across, the segment was a success.
We are always thrilled to see when our hard-working Ontario farmers get the opportunity to 
showcase these important messages, so it’s quite hopeful to see that not only the show got airtime on CBC, but also that the clip has been viewed thousands of times online.
Connecting with wider audiences and educating them has become a very important and critical part of farming, since many people now live a life distanced from farming. These educational opportunities are imperative to ensuring Ontarians and Canadians understand the importance of our food and farming sector.
Catch Ben on twitter, where he further works to connect with the local community and beyond. Ben explains that his hope here is to reach as many “non agricultural” people as possible, and even a quick glance at his page shows he’s doing so. Social media is a great space for farmers and those in the ag industry to easily connect with, and educate, a variety of people who may otherwise not have any links to farm life – truly a beneficial platform for us all. It is fantastic to see so many farmers taking advantage of these important opportunities.
We are happy to congratulate Ben and the Loewith family on taking this opportunity to share their important work with wider audiences, and doing it so well. Be sure to watch the video!