Date Range

2015-2020

Description Level

Fonds

Creator

AG-Matters Magazine

Physical Description

25 cm

History Biographical

Ag-Matters was a magazine published by the Southern Alberta Newspaper Group; it also owned the Medicine Hat News and the Lethbridge Herald. It was first created as a bi-weekly, “glossy” magazine-style print publication meant to attract higher end advertising income. There was a shift towards promotion of the agriculture industry in the province, and the magazine worked to gain support for the industry. The magazine was popular with advertisers as the “glossy” magazine, and it was distributed throughout southern Alberta and part of Saskatchewan. However, the high printing and mailing costs led to smaller profits. Eventually, the magazine was remade as a high quality newsprint edition. It was less expensive to produce, but became less profitable. Due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the magazine was cancelled in May of 2020. The stories told in Ag-Matters Magazine represented a snapshot in time of southern Alberta agriculture as it transitioned toward a greener, more sustainable industry. The magazine told stories of changes in the agriculture industry, including incorporation of Artificial Intelligence, changes in social license and sustainability, changes in markets, etc. The magazine highlighted southern Alberta farmers’ dedication and determination to change their operations to meet those greener, more sustainable mandates, as well as to adapt and thrive under different opportunities that happened in the agriculture industry between 2015 and 2020. The magazine was created by Medicine Hat News and Prairie Post Publisher, Michael J. Hertz. John Roe was the first Sales Manager of AG-Matters Magazine. Kerri Sandford was listed as the Managing Editor and also took over the magazine from Mr. Hertz after his death. Tim Kalinowski was the feature story writer, primary Content Editor, Writer, and Layout Editor for the publication on a freelance contract. Mr. Kalinowski put out one print edition every two weeks, with the first edition released on September 2015 until the COVID-19 pandemic caused the decline of advertising profits. The last AG-Matters Magazine editions were printed in 2020. Information courtesy of Tim Kalinowski.

Scope and Content

2021.1089/001: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 1/6. 2016-2018. 2021.1089/002: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 2/6. 2015-2020. 2021.1089/003: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 3/6. 2015-2018. 2021.1089/004: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 4/6. 2015-2019. 2021.1089/005: AG-Matters March 22, 2019 Edition. 2019. 2021.1089/006: AG-Matters April 5, 2019 Edition. 2019. 2021.1089/007: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 5/6. 2018-2019. 2021.1089/008: AG-Matters Magazines. Part 6/6. 2018-2019. 2021.1089/009: AG-Matters 2017 Editions. 2017. 2021.1089/010: AG-Matters Nov. 17, 2017 and Jan. 26, 2018. 2017-2018. 2021.1089/011: AG-Matters 2017 January – October Editions. 2017. 2021.1089/012: AG-Matters 2017 February – December Editions. 2017. 2021.1089/013: AG-Matters 2018 – 2020 Editions. 2018-2020. 2021.1089/014: AG-Matters March 2018 – July 2019 Editions. 2018-2019. 2021.1089/015: AG-Matters May – December 2019 Editions. 2019. 2021.1089/016: AG-Matters May 2019 – March 2020 Editions. 2019-2020.

Accession No.

20211089

Collection

Archive

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