Our 2023 Executive
Ronda Payne | President
A writer since she could hold a pen, Ronda Payne is passionate about her craft. A regular contributor to Country Life in BC, Manure Manager, Orchard & Vine and a wide range of other publications both consumer and trade-facing, she also writes for businesses who need their story told (be it a case study, blogging or articles). Ronda continues to grow in her writing career while she joyfully lives in Maple Ridge in "yet another" renovation project home with her husband and pets. Her side passion is making damn tasty cider in the basement.
Amanda Brittain | Vice-President
Amanda Brittain is the Manager of Communications & Marketing for the BC Egg Marketing Board. Amanda has more than 20 years of communications experience with various organizations in BC. At BC Egg, Amanda is responsible for all communications and marketing activities including the e-newsletters, website, events and sponsorships. She concentrates on ensuring all activities are strategically planned and support BC Egg’s brand. She holds a master's degree in communications from Royal Roads University and is an Accredited Business Communicator with the International Association of Business Communicators.
David Schmidt | Treasurer
Treasurer and past president of the BC Farm Writers Association and a past director and president of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, David Schmidt is editor emeritus of Country Life in BC and contributes to other regional and national agricultural magazines. David grew up on a mixed/dairy farm in the Fraser Valley. He has a BA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and has been covering agriculture since 1985. His awards include being named BC's Agriculturist of the Year in 2000 and receiving the Canadian Farm Writers Federations Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. When not involved in agriculture, David provides personal and small business tax services and plays tournament bridge. He is treasurer and a past president of the BC-Washington-Alaska District of the American Contract Bridge League.
Myrna Stark Leader | BC Director to Canadian Farm Writers Federation
An experienced writer and accredited communications professional, and Saskatchewan transplant to Kelowna, Myrna contributes to Country Life In BC and additional publications and projects. Although she didn’t grow up farming (both sets of grandparents were grain farmers), she is intrigued and fascinated by the innovation, entrepreneurs and variety of issues in agriculture. Myrna’s goal is to help share information and stories in a way that resonates. She’s past-president and a former, long-serving director of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, a former Saskatchewan Farm Writers’ Association director and has been a trusted adviser to senior leadership on media and communications matters in municipal, provincial and federal gov’ts, as well as the private sector. Her work has been recognized with two IABC Gold Quill awards. Myrna loves her new home in BC and continues seeking new clients.
Madeleine Baerg | Director At Large
Madeleine Baerg is an ag-communications expert and award-winning technical writer. She lives and loves agriculture from her multi-generational family farm in British Columbia's beautiful Okanagan Valley.
Tamara Slobogean | Director At Large
Tamara has worked in broadcast journalism in Vancouver for nearly 20 years. She has worked just about every aspect of the radio and TV newsroom from Morning Show reporter, writer, anchor, and editor to Supervising Producing of Breakfast Television Vancouver and Calgary. She is also a media coach and communications professional. She currently works ‘for the environment’ spreading the word about the important work being done by the Invasive Species Council of BC, to minimize the negative ecological, social and economic impacts of invasive species. When she’s not at her desk, Tamara can often be found foraging for wild mushrooms, practicing yoga and photography.
A writer since she could hold a pen, Ronda Payne is passionate about her craft. A regular contributor to Country Life in BC, Manure Manager, Orchard & Vine and a wide range of other publications both consumer and trade-facing, she also writes for businesses who need their story told (be it a case study, blogging or articles). Ronda continues to grow in her writing career while she joyfully lives in Maple Ridge in "yet another" renovation project home with her husband and pets. Her side passion is making damn tasty cider in the basement.
Amanda Brittain | Vice-President
Amanda Brittain is the Manager of Communications & Marketing for the BC Egg Marketing Board. Amanda has more than 20 years of communications experience with various organizations in BC. At BC Egg, Amanda is responsible for all communications and marketing activities including the e-newsletters, website, events and sponsorships. She concentrates on ensuring all activities are strategically planned and support BC Egg’s brand. She holds a master's degree in communications from Royal Roads University and is an Accredited Business Communicator with the International Association of Business Communicators.
David Schmidt | Treasurer
Treasurer and past president of the BC Farm Writers Association and a past director and president of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, David Schmidt is editor emeritus of Country Life in BC and contributes to other regional and national agricultural magazines. David grew up on a mixed/dairy farm in the Fraser Valley. He has a BA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and has been covering agriculture since 1985. His awards include being named BC's Agriculturist of the Year in 2000 and receiving the Canadian Farm Writers Federations Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. When not involved in agriculture, David provides personal and small business tax services and plays tournament bridge. He is treasurer and a past president of the BC-Washington-Alaska District of the American Contract Bridge League.
Myrna Stark Leader | BC Director to Canadian Farm Writers Federation
An experienced writer and accredited communications professional, and Saskatchewan transplant to Kelowna, Myrna contributes to Country Life In BC and additional publications and projects. Although she didn’t grow up farming (both sets of grandparents were grain farmers), she is intrigued and fascinated by the innovation, entrepreneurs and variety of issues in agriculture. Myrna’s goal is to help share information and stories in a way that resonates. She’s past-president and a former, long-serving director of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, a former Saskatchewan Farm Writers’ Association director and has been a trusted adviser to senior leadership on media and communications matters in municipal, provincial and federal gov’ts, as well as the private sector. Her work has been recognized with two IABC Gold Quill awards. Myrna loves her new home in BC and continues seeking new clients.
Madeleine Baerg | Director At Large
Madeleine Baerg is an ag-communications expert and award-winning technical writer. She lives and loves agriculture from her multi-generational family farm in British Columbia's beautiful Okanagan Valley.
Tamara Slobogean | Director At Large
Tamara has worked in broadcast journalism in Vancouver for nearly 20 years. She has worked just about every aspect of the radio and TV newsroom from Morning Show reporter, writer, anchor, and editor to Supervising Producing of Breakfast Television Vancouver and Calgary. She is also a media coach and communications professional. She currently works ‘for the environment’ spreading the word about the important work being done by the Invasive Species Council of BC, to minimize the negative ecological, social and economic impacts of invasive species. When she’s not at her desk, Tamara can often be found foraging for wild mushrooms, practicing yoga and photography.
Meet a few of our other members
(in alphabetical order)
Kate Ayers
I am passionate about the ag industry, environmental sustainability, consumer education and healthy living! Fortunately, I have been able to combine these loves through researching, writing, posting content and running. I grew up on a cow-calf and cash crop operation in Central Ontario and have been a journalist in agricultural industry for five years. I regularly write for Country Life in BC and BC Holstein News. I am also pursuing my goals as an elite track athlete, training in Victoria.
Tars and Kash Cheema
Tars is the publisher of BC Holstein News.
Cheryl Davie
Being around agriculture her whole life, Cheryl Davie is living her dream as Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Analysis at the BC Chicken Marketing Board, where she jumps back and forth from using the right part of her brain for communications/marketing to the left side as an agriculture economist...and everywhere in between. Prior to joining BCCMB in 2013, Cheryl was Manager of Policy and Communications at the BC Agriculture Council. A little known fact is Cheryl used to be a ship broker, coordinating shipments of grain and forestry products from BC to all over the world.
Vanessa Farnsworth
Vanessa began her working career as a horticulturist before transitioning to journalism where she got her start as an intern for Guelph, ON based The Grower, covering a wide range of matters relating to Ontario's fruit and vegetable industry. Now based in the Kootenays, Vanessa works as a freelance agriculture and environment writer with a strong interest in the points at which the two fields intersect: regenerative, sustainable, and organic farming practices. If it's green and growing, she's interested.
Kathleen Gibson
Four years with the BC Federation of Agriculture (1982-86) started Kathleen on a 30+ year quest for sustainable food systems and related public policy. She is a founding member of Food Secure Canada, the BC Food Systems Network and the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CR-FAIR). She has worked on policy files including supply management reform and development of BC’s graduated licensing system for meat processing as well as its provincial inspections. She has been a feature writer and editor for publishers DC Health and Wiley and currently contributes Viewpoint columns to Country Life in BC. Her fruit and vegetable garden in Victoria BC constantly reinforces her empathy for farmers.
Cathy Glover
From yearbooks in high school to editing newsletters (and eventually websites) for every horse club she belonged to, Cathy has never strayed far from publishing. Her first full-time job out of school was with Western Living. She was publisher, editor and chief bottle-washer of The Quarter Circle, a publication of the BC Quarter Horse Association in the early 80s. She was doing yet another newsletter (for the BC Angus Association) when she was recruited as Country Life in BC's beef editor in 1997 by then-publisher Malcolm Young. She upgraded to a more lucrative position in advertising sales when Peter Wilding bought the struggling publication in 2000. When Peter announced his retirement in 2016, after successfully bringing the paper back to life, Cathy "bought her job" and is now publisher. When she's not pounding the keyboard, she shows Paint Horses with her daughter from their farm in Enderby.
Anna Helmer
Anna is a farm story columnist for Country Life in BC.
Barbara Johnstone Grimmer
Barbara Johnstone Grimmer is an agrologist who lives and writes from the Gulf Islands. She writes a regular column on farm life and farm issues for the Islands Independent community newspaper called "The Farmer's Stand". She is also a regular contributor to the BC Sheep Federation's publication The N'Ewes and more recently to Country Life in BC. Her writings are reproduced with photos, videos and added thoughts and gleanings in her blog.
Peter Mitham
Peter Mitham is a freelance contributor to trade and business publications in Canada and the US, primarily on real estate, agriculture and food. He is associate editor for Country Life in BC and a contributor to the Wine Analytics Report. His experience includes broadcast and digital media as well as print. Some of his earliest agriculture reporting was for the Fredericton Daily Gleaner and Farm Focus, a monthly farm paper in Atlantic Canada where his family is engaged in dairy and egg production. He lives in Vancouver.
Kevin Plastow
Kevin is an award winning graphic designer and photographer with over 30 years experience in community newspaper and print publications. He is currently graphic design and photographer for BC Holstein News and as well freelances from his home office in Chilliwack.
Sandra Tretick
Sandra is a freelance writer and communications specialist with a passion for sharing farmers’ stories and writing about farming and food. She is a former treasurer of the BC Farm Writers Association, contributes to Country Life in BC and tries to practice some of what she learns about farming on a homestead in the southern gulf islands.
Peter van Dongen
Born and raised on an Abbotsford dairy farm, Peter is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and has been involved in the agriculture industry for his entire career as a consultant, journalist, and marketing professional. Now based on Vancouver Island, Peter is the business development manager for MNP, where he has contributed to the firm’s agriculture marketing strategy in B.C. for more than a decade. Before joining MNP, Peter operated his own agricultural communications firm and led the industry outreach efforts for the Islands Agri-Food Initiative. He has contributed articles to numerous farm publications including Country Life in BC, AgriSuccess Journal and AgKnowledge Magazine. Peter is a former Vice-President of the BCFWA and co-chaired the 2008 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference in the Comox Valley. He was also a founding director of the Islands Agriculture Show.
Agricultural Publications
Members of the BC Farm Writers Association contribute to the following publications:
BC Agriculture Media
BC Holstein News
Beef in BC
BC Organic Grower
Canadian Grapes to Wine
Country Life in BC
Farmwest.com
Island Farm & Garden
Orchard & Vine
N'ewes
Small Farm Canada
Canadian Agriculture Media
AgKnowledge Magazine
AgriSuccess Express
AgriSuccess Journal
Alberta Farmer Express
Canadian Farm Manager
Canadian Organic Grower
Canadian Poultry Magazine
Country Guide
Farming for Tomorrow
Fruit & Vegetable Magazine
Grainews
Greenhouse Canada
Growing Tomorrow
Holstein Journal
Prairie Hog Country
Small Farm Canada
The Western Producer
Top Crop Manager
Western Dairy Farmer
I am passionate about the ag industry, environmental sustainability, consumer education and healthy living! Fortunately, I have been able to combine these loves through researching, writing, posting content and running. I grew up on a cow-calf and cash crop operation in Central Ontario and have been a journalist in agricultural industry for five years. I regularly write for Country Life in BC and BC Holstein News. I am also pursuing my goals as an elite track athlete, training in Victoria.
Tars and Kash Cheema
Tars is the publisher of BC Holstein News.
Cheryl Davie
Being around agriculture her whole life, Cheryl Davie is living her dream as Manager of Strategic Initiatives and Analysis at the BC Chicken Marketing Board, where she jumps back and forth from using the right part of her brain for communications/marketing to the left side as an agriculture economist...and everywhere in between. Prior to joining BCCMB in 2013, Cheryl was Manager of Policy and Communications at the BC Agriculture Council. A little known fact is Cheryl used to be a ship broker, coordinating shipments of grain and forestry products from BC to all over the world.
Vanessa Farnsworth
Vanessa began her working career as a horticulturist before transitioning to journalism where she got her start as an intern for Guelph, ON based The Grower, covering a wide range of matters relating to Ontario's fruit and vegetable industry. Now based in the Kootenays, Vanessa works as a freelance agriculture and environment writer with a strong interest in the points at which the two fields intersect: regenerative, sustainable, and organic farming practices. If it's green and growing, she's interested.
Kathleen Gibson
Four years with the BC Federation of Agriculture (1982-86) started Kathleen on a 30+ year quest for sustainable food systems and related public policy. She is a founding member of Food Secure Canada, the BC Food Systems Network and the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CR-FAIR). She has worked on policy files including supply management reform and development of BC’s graduated licensing system for meat processing as well as its provincial inspections. She has been a feature writer and editor for publishers DC Health and Wiley and currently contributes Viewpoint columns to Country Life in BC. Her fruit and vegetable garden in Victoria BC constantly reinforces her empathy for farmers.
Cathy Glover
From yearbooks in high school to editing newsletters (and eventually websites) for every horse club she belonged to, Cathy has never strayed far from publishing. Her first full-time job out of school was with Western Living. She was publisher, editor and chief bottle-washer of The Quarter Circle, a publication of the BC Quarter Horse Association in the early 80s. She was doing yet another newsletter (for the BC Angus Association) when she was recruited as Country Life in BC's beef editor in 1997 by then-publisher Malcolm Young. She upgraded to a more lucrative position in advertising sales when Peter Wilding bought the struggling publication in 2000. When Peter announced his retirement in 2016, after successfully bringing the paper back to life, Cathy "bought her job" and is now publisher. When she's not pounding the keyboard, she shows Paint Horses with her daughter from their farm in Enderby.
Anna Helmer
Anna is a farm story columnist for Country Life in BC.
Barbara Johnstone Grimmer
Barbara Johnstone Grimmer is an agrologist who lives and writes from the Gulf Islands. She writes a regular column on farm life and farm issues for the Islands Independent community newspaper called "The Farmer's Stand". She is also a regular contributor to the BC Sheep Federation's publication The N'Ewes and more recently to Country Life in BC. Her writings are reproduced with photos, videos and added thoughts and gleanings in her blog.
Peter Mitham
Peter Mitham is a freelance contributor to trade and business publications in Canada and the US, primarily on real estate, agriculture and food. He is associate editor for Country Life in BC and a contributor to the Wine Analytics Report. His experience includes broadcast and digital media as well as print. Some of his earliest agriculture reporting was for the Fredericton Daily Gleaner and Farm Focus, a monthly farm paper in Atlantic Canada where his family is engaged in dairy and egg production. He lives in Vancouver.
Kevin Plastow
Kevin is an award winning graphic designer and photographer with over 30 years experience in community newspaper and print publications. He is currently graphic design and photographer for BC Holstein News and as well freelances from his home office in Chilliwack.
Sandra Tretick
Sandra is a freelance writer and communications specialist with a passion for sharing farmers’ stories and writing about farming and food. She is a former treasurer of the BC Farm Writers Association, contributes to Country Life in BC and tries to practice some of what she learns about farming on a homestead in the southern gulf islands.
Peter van Dongen
Born and raised on an Abbotsford dairy farm, Peter is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and has been involved in the agriculture industry for his entire career as a consultant, journalist, and marketing professional. Now based on Vancouver Island, Peter is the business development manager for MNP, where he has contributed to the firm’s agriculture marketing strategy in B.C. for more than a decade. Before joining MNP, Peter operated his own agricultural communications firm and led the industry outreach efforts for the Islands Agri-Food Initiative. He has contributed articles to numerous farm publications including Country Life in BC, AgriSuccess Journal and AgKnowledge Magazine. Peter is a former Vice-President of the BCFWA and co-chaired the 2008 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference in the Comox Valley. He was also a founding director of the Islands Agriculture Show.
Agricultural Publications
Members of the BC Farm Writers Association contribute to the following publications:
BC Agriculture Media
BC Holstein News
Beef in BC
BC Organic Grower
Canadian Grapes to Wine
Country Life in BC
Farmwest.com
Island Farm & Garden
Orchard & Vine
N'ewes
Small Farm Canada
Canadian Agriculture Media
AgKnowledge Magazine
AgriSuccess Express
AgriSuccess Journal
Alberta Farmer Express
Canadian Farm Manager
Canadian Organic Grower
Canadian Poultry Magazine
Country Guide
Farming for Tomorrow
Fruit & Vegetable Magazine
Grainews
Greenhouse Canada
Growing Tomorrow
Holstein Journal
Prairie Hog Country
Small Farm Canada
The Western Producer
Top Crop Manager
Western Dairy Farmer
