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Ag News Roundup – 8/5

August 5th, 2011 by Anna Agnew

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat – Farm and Food Marketing: This week’s #AgChat covered marketing events, co-op business models, farm-to-farm marketing, futures markets and maintaining customer relationships. Remember, you can follow #AgChat every Tuesday from 8-10 p.m. to be part of the conversation.

Social Media Overhaul: The Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) launched a brand new website this week – and expanded social media features are prominent throughout! The new site enables users to tweet news, recommend articles on Facebook or share updates on LinkedIn – all directly from the site.

Ohio Dairy Farmers: Get to know 16 Ohio dairy farm families through pictures, stories and videos. Watch the “People Behind the Product” producer videos to learn how the state of Ohio supports their farmers, or check out the educational section for kids, moms and teachers.

Innovation Conserves Water in Hawaii: In their latest blog post, Monsanto discusses how their manufacturing and production research teams in Hawaii have conserved over 11 million gallons of water by making changes to their current irrigation and fertilization practices. That’s enough to provide 150 households water for an entire year!

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Ag News Roundup – 7/8/11

July 8th, 2011 by Anna Agnew

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat – Families: This week’s ag chat was centered around dealing with farm and ranch family relationships. Discussion ranged from handling difficult family conversations, managing the next generation, making working together as a family fun, and successful planning tools.

Watch Us Grow: To help consumers better understand family farms, Illinois Farm Families is providing an opportunity for moms to participate in their Family-to-Family Farm Tours. These tours will help the moms learn more about farming operations and how safe and healthy food is produced for their families. Check out their fully interactive website to sign up for the tours or to learn more about family farming.

Discover Your Social Web: The Ohio Farm Bureau has updated their social media guide, providing both beginners and advanced agvocates with the necessary tools to utilize social media to its full potential. Their short and user-friendly tutorials cover Facebook, Twitter and location-based social media.

Produce More, Conserve More: In their most recent blog post, Monsanto discussed the Gothenburg Learning Center – their 324-acre research farm located in Gothenburg, Neb. The learning center showcases how systems-based agriculture practices can work to improve conservation in all aspects of farming operations – including how farmers can improve their yields and reduce inputs while managing drought.

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Ag News Roundup – 6/24/11

June 24th, 2011 by Anna Agnew

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat  – Moms Know Best: Led by four social media marketing moms, the latest ag chat included a diverse range of discussion regarding farmers markets, food labels, modern ag practices, animal welfare and more.

“Ag”tually…: NBC 12 news in Virginia interviewed Chris and Jennie Simms on how they and other agriculture agvocates are using social media to spread the positive message of agriculture. Their family blog contains ag news, pictures, recipes and videos.

Agriculture’s Future Starts Today: The CropLife Ambassador Network works to educate and excite the next generation about agriculture by bringing free speakers to 4th through 6th grade classrooms to talk about modern American farming. Their website is loaded with great educational resources for moms, teachers and industry professionals.

Farm-N-Wife: This Midwestern farm wife is not only using social media to be the voice for agriculture, she is also using her blog to help other ag professionals use social media. Her blog includes a “featured farmer,” tips for taking flattering farm photos, video editing and uploading tools, farm stories, fun contests and more.

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Ag News Roundup – 6/10/11

June 10th, 2011 by Anna Agnew

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat – Blogging: Topics in this week’s ag chat included tips and tricks to running a successful blog. Discussion ranged from finding the time to blog, brainstorming interesting topics, how to effectively connect with readers, picking relevant keywords and designing the layout.

Virtual Dairy Farm: Attendees of the upcoming World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. this October will have the chance to visit eight dairy farms across the U.S. without ever leaving the building. These free 30-minute tours will cover general operation information, highlights of exceptional management practices and allow time for questions and discussion at the end.

Brush Up on the Basics: The National Corn Grower’s Association will feature a webinar on June 16 that will provide a social media and agriculture recap as well as review the basics of blog commenting, Facebook and Twitter. The webinar will cover best practices, case studies and some of the top ag social media sites.

The Future of Food: The Prince of Wales recently visited Washington D.C. to discuss the agriculture industry at the Future of Food conference. Monsanto’s recent blog post details the conversations and what the future holds for the agriculture and food industries.

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Ag News Roundup – 5/27/11

May 27th, 2011 by Courtney Beck

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat – Open Questions about Agriculture, Farming and Ranching: This week’s #AgChat was an open-ended discussion. Participants discussed a diverse list of topics including the pros and cons of land preservation policies, health insurance options for farms, trusted sources for information and how the current weather is affecting farming practices and decision-making.

Farmgate: Stu Ellis, formerly with the University of Illinois Extension, is the editor of the Farmgate blog, where he discusses a variety of farming and agriculture-related topics including crop and animal sciences, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering and agricultural policy.

The Kindness of Strangers: In the latest Monsanto blog post, the FFA chapter from Monmouth, Ill. was showcased for their extraordinary use of their $2,500 grant from Monsanto.

Turning a New Leaf: Halifax County Agriculture in Virginia is turning to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to connect with producers and consumers. Read why they decided to make this important step.

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Ag News Roundup – 5/13/11

May 13th, 2011 by Courtney Beck

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat – Farm Policy and 2012 Farm Bill: Topics in this week’s #AgChat included how to revamp/replace existing programs that don’t work without risking loss of funding altogether, the role of Extension in ag research, core ag policies that need to change, and direct payments/price supports vs. margin insurance in today’s environment.

Atwitter With Twitter: Trevor Herrle-Braun, a farmer in Canada, shares why he uses Twitter to connect with his customers directly – bridging the gap between rural and urban.

United We Eat: Miss the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s Stakeholder Summit last week? Catch up by reading the Tweets as recorded by Truffle Media on the summit’s theme “United We Eat: Securing Animal Agriculture’s Future.”

Food Demand Rises: According to Monsanto, an increasing demand for food means that farmers worldwide will need to use a variety of agricultural practices – including agronomics, breeding and biotechnology – to reach that goal.

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Ag News Roundup – 4/29/11

April 29th, 2011 by Courtney Beck

What’s new in social media? In this blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat  - New Tech Tips and Tricks: Topics in this week’s ag chat included favorite Twitter tools, recommended ag-related apps for smartphones, tech-related conferences and tablet vs. laptop discussions.

Life on a Dairy Farm: The Dairy Mom, written by Brenda Hastings, is about life on her family’s dairy farm in northeastern Ohio. Her blog includes information on animal care, dairy facts, ag tips and more!

Earth Day Recap: A recent Monsanto blog explores how Earth Day has grown in importance and presence over the years.

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Ag News Roundup — 4/15/11

April 15th, 2011 by Courtney Beck

What’s the buzz in social media? In this new blog feature, we’re rounding up the latest social media news that’s impacting the agriculture industry.

#AgChat  - International Trade: Participants in this week’s #AgChat discussed how free trade agreements affect family farmers, the elimination of farm subsidies and international agricultural trade success stories.

Diving into Social Media: Emily Webel has a blog called Confessions of a Farm Wife. She talks about life on the farm and blogs her way through all of the seasons!

How Much Technology is Too Much?: How do others balance social media, face-to-face conversation and working on the farm? When does it get to be too much?

Facebook is Big Dog in Social Networking: According to AgWired, Facebook is the big dog in the social media world, followed by Twitter and YouTube.

Food in the News: Food is a hot topic in the news lately, and the most recent Monsanto blog post covers remarks by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about what the U.S. government’s role should be in agriculture.

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Statistics on agriculture and social media

September 27th, 2010 by Karlie Justus

We always enjoy chatting with agvocate Kelly Rivard on Twitter, and were happy to come across this AgWired post about a video she created for the AgChat Conference:

Farmers have a story and are learning to tell it more and more. This video was featured at the opening session of the AgChat Foundation’s first ever “Agvocacy 2.0 Training Conference” in Rosemont, Illinois where 50 farmers gathered to learn more about the tools of the trade.

“Agvocacy” is the term coined to represent the act of advocating agriculture. The AgChat Foundation works to empower a community of connected and enthusiastic “agvocates” through social media. This video gives insight on some of the tools used and some of the facts that drive the agvocacy campaign. Every farmer and rancher has a story, and it is time for them to share it.

Here are a few of the statistics you’ll find in the video, which you can also view on YouTube:

  • 23% of large acreage farmers spend more than 10 hours online weekly.
  • In 2009, 62% of high-acreage growers had sent or received text messages during the last year.
  • In 2009, 44% of high-acreage growers had begun taking pictures on their mobile phones.
  • As of 2009, 44% of large growers have been on Facebook.

Thanks to the entire AgChat Foundation crew for the interesting information!

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AgChat Foundation ramps up social media training next week

August 27th, 2010 by Karlie Justus

Since we first launched the NutriDense Silage Web Moo.0 Contest, we’ve been excited for the first AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 Training Conference. Lucky for us, the conference kicks off next week and runs Aug. 30-31 in Chicago.

More than 50 attendees, including our Web Moo.0 Contest winner Ashley Messing, will enjoy a two-day intensive workshop designed to help agriculturalists from all industries and geographies better use social media to agvocate for their farms, culture and businesses. Here’s a look at part of the conference’s agenda:

  • Twitter Community Building
  • Facebook profiles, fan pages and groups
  • Creating high-impact videos
  • Blog basics and beyond
  • Real world “show and tell” case studies
  • Bridging basic communications with social media

You can read more on the AgChat Foundation’s recently revamped website. We’ll be following along with the conference on the @AgChat and @AgChatFound Twitter accounts.

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