The Corn Feed

Beyond the usual sounds of mooing and milking machines, the dairy industry has been making a lot of noise lately when it comes to positively sharing its story with consumers and media.

Now more than ever, it is important for everyone who touches the industry, from farmers and agribusiness professionals to nutritionists and veterinarians, to pitch in by writing op-eds for local newspapers, describing their work to friends and family, organizing meetings and more. These “agvocates” (agriculture advocates) help consumers better make the “farm to fork” connection and promote the importance of dairy to the economy, healthy diets and our farming culture.

One popular communications tool is social media, which encompasses online communications ranging from blogs to Twitter. When it comes to using social media to promote agriculture, the dairy industry is especially active. In fact, many online leaders credit dairy producers who utilize Twitter, Facebook and personal blogs as leading the way for the online agriculture community.

Online agvocacy efforts are ramped up even more than usual in June to celebrate National Dairy Month, as dairy enthusiasts share industry statistics, weather conditions in the field, information for consumers and positive stories from the farm. Even cows have joined in on the fun, tweeting live updates from their milking machines with a little help from radio frequency ID tags.

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