Connecting urban and rural: FACS launches billboard campaign

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

If you happen to be driving down the highway and see your neighbour’s smiling face on a billboard, it’s not a mirage – it’s the latest campaign from the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan (FACS).

Executive Director Adele Buettner says FACS restarted its popular billboard campaign after a five-year hiatus because it is an effective way to spread an important message about agricultural producers in the province.

“The message we are conveying through these billboards is that our producers are responsible, that they care about their livestock,” she said. “It’s a very positive and a very useful message. We’re all about being proactive.”

FACS ran billboards every year from 1996 to 2001 before setting the initiative aside for a few years to focus on other projects that required its full attention. However, Buettner says the timing is right to once again let people know about the positive things going on in agriculture.

“With so few people having direct ties to the family farm, we feel it’s important to showcase what modern producers look like, to remind people who no longer have that direct link themselves,” she said.

“So this year, we’re going to feature young, responsible, active Saskatchewan producers who are involved in modern agriculture. It’s the first time we’ve used pictures of actual producers in our billboards, rather than artwork.”

The FACS campaign includes six different billboard designs, posted in 16 locations across rural and urban Saskatchewan. Buettner says that’s a change from past campaigns, which were focused entirely in Regina and Saskatoon.

The campaign is running throughout the month of May, perhaps stretching into June.

Sponsors for the 2007 billboards are Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, the Saskatchewan Egg Producers, the North American Equine Ranching Information Council and the Saskatchewan Chicken Industry Development Fund.

“Our past billboard campaigns were very successful because it was a unique message,” Buettner said. “This year is the first time for our livestock industry in the province to collectively have a number of different commodities represented in the billboards. It’s not just a beef campaign or a poultry campaign. It’s a livestock campaign that brings all these different sectors together and presents them to the public. I think that’s a really great message.”

The billboards appearing throughout Saskatchewan can also be viewed on the council’s website at www.facs.sk.ca.

FACS is a membership-based, non-profit organization that represents the livestock industry in advancing responsible animal welfare, care and handling practices in agriculture. FACS endeavours to raise producer awareness of the economic and ethical benefits of animal welfare, and to help consumers achieve a greater understanding of animal care issues.

For more information, contact:
Adele Buettner, Executive Director
Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan
Phone: (306) 249-3227
E-mail: facs@sasktel.net
Website: www.facs.sk.ca