Donalee Jones has been producing documentary & commercial television projects for over 20 years, but her real passion is agriculture. She grew up on a mixed grain and cattle farm near Baldur, Manitoba and from a young age she was drawn to the rural lifestyle. In 2008, she and her partner began implementing a succession plan which allowed them to take over management of his 4th generation family farm near Cartwright. They manage 2200 acres of cropland growing grains, oilseeds and pulses and implementing minimum-till and conservation agriculture practices. Life on the farm is very busy, but when the producer position for Great Tastes of Manitoba became available in 2015, Donalee knew she wanted to use her voice and unique skill set to share credible information about agriculture with a wider audience. Great Tastes of Manitoba is the only collaboration of its kind in Canada. It is a farm to table brand showcasing many of the different foods grown by Manitoba’s farmers, and introducing a broadcast audience of 25,000 Manitoba consumers to a different farm family or agricultural community each week. The cooking series is broadcast Saturday evenings at 6:30pm on CTV Winnipeg and across Canada on The Rural Channel.  All the recipes, full episodes and an archive of over 60 video tours of Manitoba farms are available on greattastesmb.ca. Great Tastes of Manitoba can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. It is Manitoba's longest running, locally produced television series and Donalee and her team are currently in production of the 35th anniversary season to premiere in fall 2024.

Today Donalee shares information about the Great Tastes of Manitoba TV show and how the show works to showcase local farmers and connect consumers with food production.  The “Before the Plate” section of the show shares information about Manitoba farmers, on their farm, and was born because the data shows that consumers trust farmers more than any other source of information. 

Donalee has been immersed in public trust data and public perception in the agriculture industry so close to her heart.  Through her role with Great Tastes of Mantioba, Donalee has a lot of experience sharing the farm stories of others, and shares some ways producers can share their stories and connect directly to consumers.  She shares that there are many ways producers can combat misinformation in ag, share their values and the values of ag, and the many benefits that agriculture brings to Manitoba and Canada, even if they are not wanting to do so via social media.

She has recently shared a beautiful video on social media that shares some information about her farm and what coming home to the farm means to her.  We discuss the idea of coming home and why this seems to hit home for many farmers.  To view this video, please visit Great Tastes’ links below.

Donalee wraps up today’s episode with a teaser of what is coming in this 35th anniversary season of Great Tastes of Manitoba.  You won’t want to miss it.

Links mentioned in today's episode:

The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity 2022 Public Trust Research:

https://www.foodintegrity.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-ENG-Public-Trust-Research-Report.pdf

You can find and follow Great Tastes of Manitoba at the links below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GreatTastesTV

Website: https://greattastesmb.ca/

Facebook: @Great Tastes of Manitoba 

Instagram: @greattastesmb

X: @GreatTastesMb

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

We encourage you to follow MBFI on social media, or check out the website for more information on project findings and results, upcoming events and more!

Instagram: @MBBeefandForage

Facebook: @MBBeefandForage

X (Twitter): @MBBeefandForage

Website: www.mbfi.ca 

Email address: [email protected] 

Mary-Jane’s Phone Number: 431-255-0011