About us

The Eastern Canada Farm Writersโ€™ Association (ECFWA) serves the common interests of agricultural communicators, including reporters, writers, editors and broadcasters, as well as those in industry, government and academia who are involved in agricultural communications.

The ECFWA represents approximately 125 members in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The ECFWA joins with other regional farm writer organizations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada to form the Canadian Farm Writersโ€™ Federation (CFWF).

ECFWA members also belong to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ)

History

On June 20, 1955 five well-connected farm writers came together at the Agricultural Institute of Canada annual meeting in Edmonton. Several meetings followed and Tom Leach, of CBC, Dick Beamish of the Western Producer, Jack Cram, Western editor of the Family Herald, Frank Jacobs of Canadian Cattlemen and Don Baron, of Country Guide became the founding fathers of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Association.

The organization of regional associations, and a change in name to the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) followed soon after. The original vision of the organization was to have western and eastern associations under the umbrella of the national organization. However, the desire of British Columbia to have its own organization resulted in the four western provinces forming their own regional associations, with eastern Canada maintaining one association, the ECFWA.

In 2010 the ECFWA split into two groups, with Ontario and Quebec maintaining one regional association as the ECFWA and the Atlantic Canada Farm Writers’ Association (ACFWA) representing agricultural communicators in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.